SD Gundam Force X
by Core Belote
Summary: In a distant part of the galaxy a battle erupts that draws the Gundam Force to it. New allies and enemy's are made as they try to find their way back home.
1. Chapter 1

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter One**

"… **Gundam X"**

_"Gaia… the third planet in the Solace System, and home to a race of beings called humans. An ever curious race that strived to explore beyond the boundaries of their home world and venture out into space. As their curiosity grew, so did their technological skills, and soon they gave birth to a new life form, a robotic race that had the same emotional abilities as humans and the same drives. Together they lived in peace with on another on both Gaia and the orbiting space colonies called 'Clouds', till a dark force started to weave its way into the daily matrix of day to day life and planted the seeds of war._

_Divided against one another the people and mechanical citizens of Gaia fought against their own kind from the space colonies as they formed the Dark Cirrus, each striving for victory. For this purpose a new type of mechanical citizen was created, one developed by the Gaia Forces to defend it and bring a quick end to the war… Four warriors of light, created to save all of humanity and the mechanical citizens, they were called Gundam. Together the four were set out in the final battle, to bring an end to the war once and for all…"_

Machine gun and beam weapon fire filled the space between the two fleets of spaceships, along with missiles and rockets, and various fighters and robots. A white mechanical warrior with blue and red armor, and a large golden V-fin on the front of his helmet flew into the chaos as blue light shown out of his X shaped foils on his back. The blue eyed fighter brought his beam rifle up to snap off several shots, catching three green armored warriors of the colony forces dead center and causing them to explode in the darkness of space. The silence was deafening as he looked around him in the battle, everywhere there was light and explosions, but in the vacuum of space there was no sound to be heard. But as he watched he could feel the pain of others as lives were lost, both human and mechanical.

"Lieutenant Gundam X!" A sharp deep voice snapped him out of his train of thought as he turned and saw the tall white and blue painted Gundam with large shoulders and a fanged facemask. "Pay attention to your surroundings, or you are going to end up as nothing but space dust."

"Yes, Commander Gundam Belphagor." The young Gundam replied over the communications line and saw the other larger Gundam turn around and snap one of his arms out, the shoulder unfolding to extend his reach as two claws grabbed and crushed another of the colony mechanical warriors.

The blue eyed Gundam flew away quickly as he went after more targets, leaving the crimson eyed Gundam to combat those he saw close by. As he flew and fought the other colony warriors around him, he caught sight of the other two Gundams, both of them his brothers in arms. The large and bulky looking Gundam Leopard, with his green armor and large array of Gatling guns and other projectile weapons either blasted all that came near him or used his deadly beam knife on those that broke through his barrage of weapons fire. The sleek red and white Gundam Airmaster spun his way through the battlefield, using his two beam rifles to cause the enemy units around him to vanish in brilliant explosions of light.

The young Gundam let out a gasp as he felt a strange tingling sensation run through him, a feeling he had had before in his early days in space fighting and on the surface of Gaia as well when he was in combat tests. He spun around quickly and transformed his beam rifle into its shield mode to block the shot that burned its way toward him and spot its source. A crimson colored Zako Jenice Kai raced towards him, armed with several different types of weapons, its beam rifle blazing as it approached.

"You again!" The Gundam X said to himself as he growled and charged forward, drawing his beam saber from his back. "We're going to end this now Lancer!"

The red mechanical warrior discarded its depleted beam rifle as it quickly drew its own beam saber and shield, the two blades of energy of the robotic fighters arched in space to meet in a blinding flash of light. The blue eyed Gundam gasped as he sat up and heard a crash close to him, surrounded not by the empty void of space and battle, but a mountain forest, with the sound of birds flying over head. He stared up at the blue sky to see the moon barely visible, allowing him to tell that it was still early morning.

He lowered his head sadly with a sigh as he held it with his right hand, "That dream again… Why do you still haunt me now Lancer?"

The Gundam pushed himself up slowly with his only remaining arm and pulled his battered and torn cloak around him with its hood over his head, a jagged scar ran down his helmet and face mask, going down to his green optic. He took a few steps forward to emerge from the forest to see a path, and the source of the crash that awoke him, a doe with its young fawn looked at him curiously for a moment before they continued on their way across the path and into the forest. The Gundam X chuckled as he shook his head and started down the path that he knew would lead him towards what he had heard was the largest city and settlement in the area called Heliopolis. As he looked at the horizon he could see a tower rising in the distance over the trees, the tower obviously the remains of something far more dangerous then a skyscraper. The old space battleship that rose as a tower looked like it had been scavenged for parts to help the city and now stood as its own structure, with the bow buried deep into the ground and the aft section reaching up toward the heavens.

The Gundam sighed as he lowered his head and exited the forest, continuing down the path toward the city as he saw fields laid out before him of different types of cattle and farm animals. Off to one side of the road sat a house with what looked like an ancient hanger, and an old runway for aircraft less powerful then the jets that he had seen years ago during the war. As he looked at the house he saw the door of it open and a young girl run out dressed in a pair of mechanics coveralls, the top half unfastened and tied off around her waist to show a large white shirt. Her hair looked like it was tucked messily under an orange cap as she ran with a backpack strapped to her back, yelling back to the house as she does. Moments later he heard a scream and saw an older man in a red and tan jacket run from the house as if it were on fire and rush over to the hanger. The Gundam shook his head as he turned away and kept going down the road, the young girl looked to be heading the same direction as him and he paled at the thought of having to speak with her, preferring to be left alone and to himself instead of being social.

"Uhm, Hello there." The girl said with a smile as she looked at him and slowed her pace to walk along side him. "Do you need any help?"

"No, I don't need any help." The Gundam replied, his voice altered a bit to that of an old man in the hopes of tricking the girl so she would leave him alone.

"I don't remember seeing you anywhere around here before, so you must be new to this area." The young human continued to smile cheerfully as she looked at him, "Are you going to the city to sell something? I'm guessing that is what you are doing, since you are carrying something on your back."

The Gundam felt a chill run through him as he lowered his head, the girl obviously not going to leave him alone and now curious about the object on his back wrapped in cloth and rope to keep it from being recognized. "I'm… I am just passing through. Please, young lady, can you leave an old man alone?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at him, "I would, but you aren't that old. I bet you are a kid aren't you."

"Who are you calling a kid?!" The Gundam snapped, his voice returned to normal once more, and sounded like that of a thirty year old man.

The young girl smiled as she chuckled, "Well, at least I know that for sure now."

The Gundam grumbled at himself for letting his emotions get the better of him for a moment and lowered his head. "Look, I just want to be left alone. I've had enough troubles to last me a lifetime, and now I want to rest. So please, leave me alone young miss."

"I'm sorry." The girl said as she let out a sigh, "I didn't mean to offend you, It is just that… well, look, I'm just sorry for what I said. But you really should be careful out here on your own with something valuable. There are some bandits that roam the forest and outlaying areas of the city to pick off those that they think are easy prey, and they might think you are since you are kind of short."

"Thanks for the warning." The Gundam felt his eye twitch at the comment, but remained quiet about it as he continued down the path with the young human. "How do you know that what I have is of any value?"

"I don't, but some might think that it is and try to rob you for it." The girl explained quickly, and looked down at her watch. "I have to get going, or I'm going to be late for school. If you are looking to sell something in the town, could you try and wait till I get out of class? I might buy what you have to sell. My name is Sam, Sam Ashta. It was nice walking with you Mister."

The Gundam paused as he looked up and watched the girl run off down the road into the city, he waited till she was long gone from sight before continuing down the path. "....Ashta?"

Sam poked her head around the corner of a large stone statue sitting in front of the school, her eyes scanned the open space between her and the steps leading up to the doors of the school. She looked around quickly to see if she could see the teacher that seemed to catch her each time she was late for school, the woman seeming to know every move she was going to make to get into the school. The young teen dashed quickly up the stairs of the school to the front door, she opened it slowly to peek inside to see if anyone was in the halls. With the halls empty she smiled and chuckled in victory, Sam opened the door, confident that she has made it past the alert adult at last.

"Looks like I've made it and the coast is clear." Sam chuckled as she started to set foot into the building.

"Is that so, Miss Samantha Ashta?" A woman's voice asked behind her, her voice made the girl freeze in her tracks and slowly looked behind her at the well endowed woman in a blue business suit and skirt with black heels, her arms folded over her chest. "I think that this would have been the fourth time that I caught you late for school, wouldn't it?"

"I'm sorry Miss Ennil Zabi!" The girl stammered as she spun around quickly to face the woman to try and explain herself. "There must have been a power outage, and I got up late, and my dad is late for work too and…"

The red haired woman smiled happily down at the young girl, the sight made her cringe in fear of what the teacher might be thinking. "Miss Zabi, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Ennil chuckled once more as she shook her head and rested her hand against her forehead, "But your complete lack of the concept of time is amusing to me. There was a power outage earlier today, but I think that you have forgotten the most important thing. Today is a teacher's work holiday, so there is no school today."

"A holiday?" Sam looked at Ennil in shock as the adult rests a hand on her shoulder, "Are you serious?"

"I am, that is why I said that it would have been the fourth time that I caught you late for school." The teacher smiled cheerfully, "But since there is no school today, I can't do that now can I? Now, why don't you go run along and have some fun for the rest of the day, and do tell your father that I said hello when you see him."

"A holiday… I… you mean I could have spent the whole day sleeping in bed! Not fair!" The young teen continued to stare at Ennil in shock for a moment before she recovered, "I mean… Thank you for telling me Miss Ennil, and I'll tell my father that when he gets back from work. Have a good day."

"You too Samantha, and try to stay out of trouble." Ennil called to the girl as she took off away from the school and vanished down the road. "That girl… she is so much like her father."

Sam ran as fast as she could from the school, only slowing down to a walk when she puts a few blocks between her and the building, she let out a sigh of relief as she smiled. The green eyes of the girl looked up at the clouds floating by in the blue sky above, each of them a different shape and changing shape slowly as they drifted easily on the breeze high up in the atmosphere. Her smile widened as she saw the silvery outline of the moon, the celestial body always visible at this time of day, only to vanish for a short time before it reappeared later at night. The rotation of the planet altered along with the weather patterns and climate after the colony drop.

The young teen sighed as she continued to look up at the moon, "I wish I could go up there… I wonder what it is like in space."

Sam lowered her gaze back to the ground to look around, the people of the city filled the streets, going about their business and shopping at the street venders in the open market place. Her eyes followed a group gathered around two men wearing the uniforms of Eurasia Alliance soldiers from the war, the sight making her curious. She walked over and joined the crowd as she looked at the men, the larger of the two calling the people to gather around as the other skinner man sat on a crate. The large man cleared his throat as he seemed satisfied that he had the attention of everyone.

"Thank you all for coming to hear us today. I would like to start by introducing ourselves." The large scruffy faced man said with a thick European accent, "We are the famous 'Twin Red Suns' of the G.F .! We are the ones responsible for stopping four large carrier ships and countless Jenince's from making it to our world. We are what are called Newtypes!"

"He speaks the truth." The tall lanky blonde seated on the crate spoke up, not really looking at anyone. "We are Newtypes."

"Yes, and that is why we are giving you this special offer." The other man smiled as he held up a finger, "Hire us today for this one time low price, and we can guarantee the safety of your shops. What do you say?"

"You two are just looking for jobs?" Sam scoffed as she looked at the two adults. "Can't you come up with a better sales pitch then that? I bet you two aren't even real Newtypes are you?"

"What was that? We are real Newtypes! It's true! And you can hire us today for a very low price of…" The man paused in mid-sentence as he lifted his head up at a whistling sound that had caught everyone's attention, "What's that?"  
As soon as the man finished his question, the water tower on one of the buildings exploded to send water raining down on the people below and caused them to run wild in the streets. Sam looked around her quickly before she ducked behind one of the large metal storage crates that a vender was using as a leg for his table, she peeked around the corner to see the two supposed NewTypes running around in a panic before they dived into a building for cover like two children behind their mother's skirt.

"Figures they were nothing more then talk." Sam hissed as she continued to hide behind the crate, the sound of a group of metal footsteps behind her alerted of something coming up to her.

She turned her head in time to see a small group of seven Daughtress robots, the black and white armored machines running up quickly with a shield and baton in their hands. The leader of the group having a different shaped head with two radio antenna on the sides and a large rectangular horn showing he is a command unit. A badge on their shoulders showed them to be members of the cities defense corps, along with a crest on their rectangular shields. The group of robots continued past Sam into the dust cloud kicked up by the splashing water on the street, the leader paused as he pulled out a megaphone.

"I hope that they are going to be alright." Sam said softly as she watched them from the cover of the metal crate, a feeling in her stomach telling her that something isn't right.

"Lay down your weapons at once!" The command Daughtress shouted into his megaphone, his voice amplified greatly. "This city does not permit weapons to be carried within the city limits. Please surrender your weapons peacefully."

A red optic lit up in the dust cloud followed by two more on either side of it as a dark armored form stepped out of the dust cloud. The black and purple armored robot smiled as it held a large cannon in one hand and a machine gun in the other, an axe attached to his back. A pair of swept back vents look like a strange mustache on the robot under the two slots for his optic in his helmet, a large command fin on it showing what type of unit he is. The large red armor plated robot to his right stepped forward with a pair of bull horns on its helmet to look like some kind of ancient medieval warrior, and rested a large sword on its shoulders, its armored skirt going all the way to the ground. The third member of the trio kept him self hidden for the most part, his green armor and double slotted helmet showed that he is of the same type as the other two, but was a basic grunt unit. The smaller robot held onto his machine gun tightly as he kept close to the other two, glaring at the Daughtress'.

"What is with you city people and robots?" The darkly armored leader of the three asked, as he shook his head slowly, "This would be so much easier if you just laid down your own weapons and let us have what we want. But then again… I guess it wouldn't be much fun if you did that."

"Lay down your weapons, this is your final warning." The command Daughtress ordered once more through his megaphone.

"Sorry, I can't do that. But here, have some of our ammo!" The black and purple armored robot shouted back as he aimed his heavy cannon at the Daughtress' and opened fire, sending the lightly armed mechs flying as the others beside him attack with their own weapons.

Sam shut her eyes tightly against the sound of the explosion, and ducked her head behind the crate, a loud bang beside her caused her to open her eyes out of curiosity. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the command Daughtress laid out on the ground, the optics of the robot blinking for a moment before shutting off completely from the damage he sustained. She poked her head out from around the crate once more to see the robots fighting, the trio of bandits working together to make short work of the city defenders. The large red armored robots sword glowed with energy as it cut through the shields of the Daughtress' like tissue paper, allowing for the others to take them out with their guns.

"T-they're Jenice's!" The young girl said softly as she watched them more closely, "Two customized and one regular unit."

The green armored Jenice's red optic flashed as it turns towards the sound of Sam's voice, unloading its machine gun at the human. Sam ducked her head quickly behind the safety of the metal crate as the bullets started to eat their way through it, the sound of the bullets grinding against the metal and bouncing off in dangerous ricochets to hit the buildings and shatter windows scared her.

"Out of the way you idiot!" The leader of the three barked as he shoved the smaller robot aside, "This is how you get rid of those pesky organics."

Sam's eyes widened as she heard the click of the cannons trigger being pulled, time seemed to slow down for her as she heard the round fire. She shut her eyes tightly as she screamed, part of her going back to the mind of a young child, where if they believe if they can't see it then it isn't really happening. She felt something hit her as the explosive blast ripped past her body, the heat of the explosion easily felt through her clothes. Sam felt herself flying through the air as she kept her eyes closed, her mind registered that she had been hit, but the sensation oddly different then what she expected it to be. The young human lets out a grunt as she felt herself stop before hitting the ground, she opened her eyes only to see it come up at her as she was dropped by something.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked, her head turning up to see the cloaked figure from the road into the city standing there, a pair of green optics with blue eyes looking back at her. "I said, are you alright?"

"I… I'm fine. Thank you." Sam replied slowly, still shaken by what just happened, trying to figure out what happened. "What about the others?"

"Don't worry about them; you should get out of here." The Gundam answered as he turned this head to look at the dangerous trio standing there staring him down.

"I guess you think you are some kind of hero, jumping in like that to save a puny human." The crest helmeted robot smirked, "So what is your name 'Mister Hero', so that we can carve it on your tombstone?"

"I'm no hero." The Gundam glared, his metal hand clenched into a fist as he made his body a shield for the young teen. "I think that you three have caused enough damage here, and it is time for you to leave."

"Who do you think you are telling us what to do?" The red armored robot asked, its voice crackled with static as it pointed its sword at the unknown robot. "We'll turn you to scrap like these Daughtress' if you don't clear out of here now."

"I'm not going anywhere." The Gundam replied as he reached up and grabbed hold of his cloak to tear it free from its clasps, tossing it behind him to expose his true form.

The rays of the sun reflected off of the battle scarred armor of the robot, illuminating the faded, white, blue, and red colors that spoke of enduring untold battles and hardships. The exposed green gem set into the center of his chest reflected the light cast on it to show a honeycomb like structure under it, and the gold double crests on his helmet shine brightly in the sun. A scar ran down the left side of his face and helmet, giving him a dangerous look. The metal on the left side of his body was torn and peeled back slightly from a blast that claimed his arm long ago.

The strange shape on his back that had been hidden by his cloak unfolds quickly into a large blue X as his cannon locked into place on his right shoulder. The barrel of the cannon extended out as the handle came down for him to take hold of it, leveling the weapon on the three robots that stood before him.

"A… Gundam!" The black and purple leader of the group said in shock as he took a step back, "But how?! There aren't suppose to be any Gundams here! How can you be here?"

"Kroc Ace, he's missing an arm!" The horn helmeted robot gazed at the Gundam as it gripped its sword tightly with both hands now. "We can take him, even if he is a Gundam. He only has one arm."

"I can see that he has only one arm you idiot." The optic of the darkly armored mech flashed as he looked over at his ally. "But he still has that cannon, Slasher."

"I know you didn't listen to those Daughtress', but maybe you will listen to me." The Gundam warned as he seemed to narrow his eyes. "This is your final warning, leave this town at once. You know what this weapon is capable of doing at full power; now imagine what it can do with only a small charge? It could still reduce you three into nothing but paper weights. The choice is yours."

"I think that we should flee." The green armored robot sheepishly said, terrified of the thought. "That is a dangerous cannon, Jen."

Kroc growled as he looked between the two mechs with him and then back at the Gundam. "Fine, you win this time, Gundam. But mark my words, we shall be back!"  
The one armed Gundam kept his cannon leveled on the three as they make haste with their retreat from the city, only to raise it when he can no longer see them. The cannons barrel retreated back into a sleeve on top of it before the azure X folds up into two white shapes to form an L on the Gundams back, the cannon once more took its place there as well.

"That was a close one…" The blue eyed Gundam sighed as he allowed himself to rest for a moment.

"T-thank you for saving me." The young girl's voice broke through his momentary peace, causing him to turn around to see her smiling at him.

"You are welcome, but I need to go now." The one armed robot said calmly as he walked past her and picked his cloak off of the ground, quickly putting it on once more to hide his armor and appearance from others. "I doubt that they will truly be back, and please, don't tell anyone that you saw me."

"Wait, you mean you are leaving?" Sam asked as she looked at the robot confused, "But you only just got here, and what about the others?"

The Gundam looked at the damaged Daughtress' laid out on the ground, "There are others that can repair them. I am sorry, but it is dangerous for me to stay in this place; I do not wish to bring harm to this town. Please, understand that, young miss."

"Please wait." Sam grabbed hold of the robots hand to stop him, only to be dragged a few feet before he stops. "If you really do intend to leave, then let me help you. Come with me please."

"Help me? Why should I come with you?" The one armed Gundam asked as he looked at the girl, finding her vaguely familiar. "How can you help me anyway?"

"Well… if you are looking for a place to hide then I think I might know someplace that would work." The young teen blushed slightly as she looked at the damaged Gundam. "Besides, you saved my life and the town; you have to let me repay you for that. Please, come with me."

The blue eyed Gundam stared at the human for a moment, something still familiar about her and made him feel that he can trust her. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

The stars sparkled through the open skylight of the workshop as the blue eyed Gundam looks up at them, the sight of the night sky bringing him some measure of peace after the day that he had. He let out a sigh as his mind goes back to a time when he was younger, the memory made him smile briefly before the door to the workshop opened and he looked towards it. The brown haired human walked in slowly with a tray of food, the girl pausing for a moment as it startled by him before she smiled and continued into the room to set the tray down on an empty spot on a work bench.

"So this is the place that you thought that I would be safe at?" The Gundam asked as he continued to watch Sam.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the mess. I don't really allow anyone other them myself in here." Sam smiled as she blushed and scratched the back of her head. "So, I don't really clean up that much."

"So I've noticed." The Gundam looked around at the mess of tools, parts, and dirty rags used to clean up some spills around the workplace. "You are a mechanic?"

Sam smiled as she nodded, "I am for the most part. People bring things to me that break and I try to fix them, which includes simple and more advanced robots like yourself. But I would really rather be a pilot like my dad."

"A pilot?" The Gundam looked at the girl curiously, "Your father is a pilot?"

Sam nodded as she smiled, "He has his own plane that he built and uses it to map out the area from the sky, and he does some other work with it like crop dusting. He took me up in his plane once before, and I loved being up there with the clouds, I felt as if I was free of everything. But then we landed and one of the pistons for the engine broke. Dad is constantly repairing his plane because something on it breaks about every time he takes it up into the air; I think he just pushes it to hard."

"I see." The Gundam said as he looked at the girl still, "You just don't look old enough to be a mechanic to me."

Sam chuckled as she smiled, "I get that a lot from everyone. But it doesn't stop them from coming to me to fix things for them."

The blue eyed Gundam nodded as he turned his head away from the girl, looking at the spare parts for other mechanical beings. "Have you ever… repaired a Gundam?"  
"A Gundam?" Sam looked at the battle damaged robot, "No, I've never even met one before now. But, if you like I can repair you."

"No, that won't be necessary." The scar faced warrior lowered his head as he looked at his missing arm. "I do not wish to be repaired. I was just curious to see if you came across any others like me, in all my travels I haven't met another Gundam either."

Sam looked at the one armed Gundam and sat down next to him on the long seat for her work bench, seeing that he is lonely. "I am sure that there are others out there like you, I heard that there were several Gundam's during the war, and if you are still around then the others are also. Nothing can beat a Gundam."

"I wish that was true." The blue eyed Gundam sighed as he continued to look at his missing arm.

Sam looked at the wounded Gundam sadly, "Why won't you let me repair you?"

"My wounds are reminders to me of something that happened long ago. I would rather remain the way that I am." The old Gundam shook his head slowly, "I have to live with my memories, so why not live with the wounds those memories caused as well?"

"It sounds like you have been through a lot." Sam said as she leaned against the robots remaining shoulder. "What happened to you?"

"That is something that I would like to keep to myself as well." The blue eyed Gundam replied, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, the past can be painful to share at times." Sam said, as she sat there with the old war machine, "Thank you for saving me and the town today."

"You're welcome." The Gundam said, blinked as he stared at the human leaning against him, "Uhm, what are you doing?"

The blue eyed Gundam stared at the brown haired girl as he heard a soft sound leave her lips, blushed as he realized that she has fallen asleep against him. The one armed robot let out a sigh as the turned his head to look up at the sky above him through the skylight, the stars continued to shine brightly as several shooting stars flew by, most likely left over debris from the war falling back to the planets surface.

* * *

"So, where exactly are we going?" The one armed Gundam asked, following the brown haired girl as they make their way up an rocky path in the foothills of the mountains outside the town. "Are you sure that this is a safe way to go?"

"It is a lot safer then traveling alone." Sam replied as she looked over her shoulder at the cloaked robot, moving her backpack higher on her shoulders. "You sure do ask a lot of questions for someone that is looking for a place to hide out more. Not that many people come this way because of the damage caused by the war, they are afraid that they might trigger a landslide."

"A landslide? Then wouldn't that mean that this area isn't that safe?" The blue eyed Gundam said as he hurried to the human's side, wanting to protect her incase something happened. "Should we turn back? I don't want you getting hurt helping me, you have already helped me enough."

"I have my own reason for helping you today." The young teen smiled, her eyes sparkled like stars. "There are rumors of a factory up here, and I bet there are plenty of parts there that my dad and I can use to repair things for others, and maybe fix his plane. It would also be a good place for you to hide maybe."

"I see." The Gundam shook his head, "I am sorry that you have to resort to scavenging in order to make ends meet for your family."

"It's not that bad, I actually like looking for things and building stuff." Sam replied, chuckled as she smiled. "I often have to help my dad with getting small things anyway, and making things helps to take my mind off of other things that are going on."

The cloaked Gundam nodded as the blue eyes on his optics close for a moment before he looked at the young teen, "How much further do we have to go till we reach this place?"

"I'm not sure; it isn't exactly on a map you know." The Sam commented as she struggled a bit to get to the top of a steep hill, the teen smiled as she reached its crest. "Then again, there it is!"

The one armed Gundam climbed up the hill with a bit more ease then the human to look at the structure, his eyes widened as he recognized some of the design features. The stone face of the side of a mountain carved out into a series of buildings with a broken metal wire fence around it now over taken by plants. The pitted surfaces of the building showing that it was damaged long ago, the few remaining windows surrounded by its shattered and broken siblings, making the building a lonely sad sight.

"This isn't a factory." The Gundam said as he stands at the top of the hill, looking at the buildings. "It is a ground base for Gaia Forces, but it looks like it has been abandoned for some time now."

"An abandoned Gaia Forces base…" Sam blinked as she looked at the robot and then at the buildings overgrown partly with plant life, "That means that there should be a lot of things in there that my family can use, and it would be perfect for you! Come on, let's go check it out!"

"What? Wait!" The scar faced Gundam shouted as the girl slid down the other side of the hill quickly, ignoring him as she ran toward the old base. "Great…"

"I knew that it was a good idea to keep an eye on that human." Kroc smiled as he laughed to himself, "She and that one armed Gundam have lead us to a great treasure."

"It looks like they are going into that old base, Jen." The green armored robot said as he looked through one side of a pair of binoculars, "What should we do Kroc Ace?"

"What do you think we are going to do you idiot." The optic of the dark armored robot flashed as he looked at the lightly armored mech, "We are going to storm that base and take it and that Gundam's weapon. He can't use it without access to the moon, and that building should shield it nicely."

"What about the human girl, what are we going to do about her?" Slasher asked, holding up the large sword. "Should we remove her from the equation all together?"

"She's nothing by a helpless organic, what do you think Slasher?" Kroc smiled as he looked back at the base, "That Gundam won't know what hit him."

Sam looked around her curiously as she ventured deeper into the abandoned base, her feet crunched against the floor as she stepped on bits of broken glass and dirt blown in through the windows. She reached into her backpack to pulled out a flashlight to help her look around the dark interior of the base, the air stale and heavy with the smell of old motor oil, grease, and dirt. Sam scanned the walls of the base with her flashlight as she tried to find some kind of light switch and hoped that the bases generators still have enough power to run the lights.

"Hey, Mister Gundam, do you see a light switch anywhere?" She asked as she looked behind her to see the glowing optics of the robot, the sight slightly scary. "I can't see any."

"The power to the base seems to have been shut off for some time, they have a power saving feature that shuts them down to conserve power." The scar faced robot explained, "I will see if I can find one of the command centers and access the power grid to bring the lights back online."

"Thank you Mister Gundam." Sam smiled as she watched the robot go off into the other parts of the base, opting to stay where she is for the time being as she swept her flashlight over the empty bay she is in.

Sam brought the flashlight along one of the walls to see a control panel built into it with a slot for a keycard. Curious about it she walked over to the lock and shined her flashlight over it, blowing some of the dust out of it to form a cloud that made her sneeze. Sam recovered from her sneeze and poked at some of the buttons, the lock not responding at all due to the lack of power in the base and she gave up with a sigh. Sam moved the flashlight over the door to read the large white letters painted onto it, the metal doors looking large enough to drive several semi trucks through with room to spare.

"Security Level 13, no unauthorized personnel allowed." Sam read as she looked at the door, "Well, I guess that doesn't mean me since I found the place and it is now mine, that means I am authorized to look in there."

Sam pulled at the seam to the large door and hoped that she can somehow get it to move so she can see what is behind it. She strained against the metal door with her feet braced on it, trying to get them to swing out. The lights to the base suddenly came back on to flood the area with light and allowed power to go to the doors lock once more, the keycard slot shorted out due to the dust in it and turn its display screen green. The doors slid back into the walls quickly to drop the young girl onto the floor with a thud.

"I found one of the auxiliary command centers and have reactivated the generators." The Gundams voice crackled over the speaker box built into the wall.

"Thanks for the news flash; you could have warned me you know?" Sam grumbled as she picked herself up off of the floor and rubbed her sore rear after landing on the floor.

Sam's eyes adjusted quickly to the new light levels, her eyes widened as she saw what the door was hiding behind it. "Oh… wow!"

The brown haired girl swallowed a lump in her throat as she walked into the room, one entire side of the room lined with robots set in a deactivated state, all of the ones on the bottom of the three rows looked similar scar faced Gundam but lacking certain features. Their heads looked like a helmet with a single large blue green optic, with the same weapon on his back behind them locked down into a special container system. The other two rows contain robots of two different designs, one with a heavy gatling gun and backpack behind them, and covered with a green and grey armor. The top row contained units with a red, white, and black armor with some kind of flight pack and wings folded over their shoulders, a pair of beam rifles rest in lock boxes at their side.

The young girl looked over at a two person transport resting almost directly in front of her, the flat bed of the transport containing something covered with a tarp. Sam curiously walked over to the transport and unlocked the tarp from its fasteners and pulled it back to stare in shock at the machine laying on the transport. A machine of the same design as the one that accompanied her to the base, only with the colors of his armor more vibrant and bright from lack of age or wear and tear by the elements.

"Another… Gundam." The girl barely squeaked out as she stared at the deactivated robot, his green optics blank and void of light to show his status. "But… wow, oh wow!"

"That would be one thing to say, but how about this?" A voice said behind her, causing Sam to turn around quickly to see the purple and black armored robot pointing his weapons at her. "'Please, Mister Kroc Ace, don't shoot me.' Come on, give it a try human."

"You! What are you doing here!?" The young teen shouted as she took a step back against the transport and glared at the evil mech.

"Now, that isn't what I told you to say now is it?" The single optic mech sighed as he shook his head, "I just don't understand you humans, even after being around you for so long. But, if you simply must have an answer, then we followed you. I was hoping to get my hands on that cannon that your Gundam friend has, but look at the wonderful little presents that you found for me."

The red armored robot walked over to the rack of robots arranged against the wall and let out a whistle, "Wow, look at all of these guys. With all of them we could take over the entire coast, or even this continent."

"Why stop there, we could take over this world just like our commanders wanted before the war 'ended'." Kroc smirked as he stepped forward and kept his weapons trained on the girl. "Slasher, start to work reprogramming them to serve us, they shall all make great soldiers for my army."

"Yes sir!" The horn helmeted robot said as he looked around for a computer station, "Now where to start?"

"Don't touch them!" Sam shouted as she started toward the robot only to stop as she heard a heavy metal footstep and looked at the darkly armored robot pointing a gun at her.

"Now then young missy, where is that one armed friend of yours?" The crested robot asked as he smiled his optic glowing.

"I'm right here!" The Gundam shouted as he drop kicked the dark armored robot in the side of the head to send him flying into his red armored cohort and dropping his machine gun.

The one armed Gundam landed on his feet easily and glanced behind him at the young girl as the hood of his cloak fell back to show his head and face clearly. "I suggest that you take cover, this is going to get messy fast."

Sam nodded as she swallowed a lump in her throat and moved quickly to the other side of the transport and looked over the deactivated Gundam laying on the transport bed as the one armed robot reached behind his back and pulled out a beam saber, the green blade glowing brightly as he turned his body to show his damaged side to the enemy.

"Ow… okay, that is going to hurt in the morning." The evil black and purple armored robot shook his head as he got up with the help of the horned robot and glared at the Gundam. "You are going to pay for that Gundam! Jenice, take him down!"

"Right!" The green armored robot shouted as he jumped through the doorway after having kept himself hidden till he was ordered to come out, and started to unload his machine gun on the scar faced warrior.

The Gundam grunted as he seemed to smile, the bullets tearing through his already tattered cloak but hardly phasing his armor as he dashed forward at the other machine. "If that is all you have, then this is going to be over quickly!"

"Is he really going to fight them with only one arm?" Sam asked herself softly as she watched her new protector; the battle scarred machine rushing up to the other robot and dodged some of his shots till he is close enough to strike, cutting the weapon in half with his beam saber before he kicked the Jenice into the wall. "He is!"

"Don't let him beat you, you idiot! He only has one arm!" Kroc shouted as he fired his heavy cannon at the Gundam, the explosive projective erupting as it hit the white fighter.

The blue eyed Gundam rushed out of the small fireball caused by the weapon with his cloak almost completely torn from his body, his armor only showing small signs of damage to it. The battle hardened fighter quickly blocked the heavy sword of the red armored mech as he spun around to block the attack from his left, the act surprising the horned robot. The Gundam pushed him back as he continued towards the leader of the band, the darkly armored machine pulling out the heat hawk from his back and rushing forward, the blades of the two robots weapons meeting in a flurry of sparks.

"Not bad, you are as tough as I heard you Gundams were." The single optic of the black and purple armored robot flashed as he smiled, seeming to enjoy the fight.

"You aren't that bad yourself." The Gundam knocked the other robots arm up to kicked him back a few feet before he spins around to block the sword of the other robot once more and parry his attacks. "You both seem well trained."

"Living on this planet, we have to be in order to survive." Slasher growled, the robots voice snorting, "Why don't you give up old man, you can't hope to defeat the three of us with only one arm and a beam saber."

"You might be right, but then again…" The Gundam sidestepped one of the slashes by the mechs sword to punch him hard in the face with his hand and twist it around quickly to slash one of the bull horns off of his helmet. "One arm might be all I need to defeat you."

Slasher holds his face as he staggered back, glaring at the one armed robot in anger as he gripped his weapon tighter, and his helmet smoking from the severed horn. "Who… ARE YOU!?"

"My name…" The scarred Gundam lowered his head slightly as the glared back at the red armored mech, "My name is Lieutenant Gundam X!"

"Lieutenant Gundam X?" The black and purple armored robot repeated as he stared at Gundam for a moment. "Well, since you are in the mood for exchanging names, then I guess it would only be fair to tell you mine. I am Kroc Ace, and it is the last name you are going to hear!"

Kroc dashed forward quickly as he swung his heat hawk down at the Gundam, the beam saber of the one armed machine turning quickly to block him as the red armored Slasher came up behind him with his sword blazing. The single optic of the darkly armored robot flashed as he turned slightly and let the blade of the saber cut into his shoulder armor, taking a hand off of his weapon to grab the arm of the Gundam. The blue eyes of the Lieutenant widened as he realized what is going on and quickly tried to spin around to throw the other robot at the attacker coming up behind him. Kroc's feet leave the ground quickly as he is picked up by the more powerful robot, a smile crossed his face as his cohort jumped quickly to the side, his optic reflecting the image of the third member of his group picking up one of his discarded weapons. The faded green armored Jenice pulled the trigger to the heavy cannon as the Gundam turned fully around to toss Kroc into Slasher, sending a shell into the back of the Gundam and knocking him forward.

Lieutenant staggered on his feet from the blast as he tried to regain his balance, the three machines starting to work together and coordinate their attacks better. The blue eyed Gundam jumped to his left quickly as another round is fired at him, spinning on his feet to face the regular soldier as he ducked under one of the shots. He dashed forward quickly as the round exploded behind him, intending on disposing of the weapon like he did before, only to be met by Slasher as the red armored robot dashed before him to ram him back into the wall like a mad bull. Lieutenant gasped as he is slammed repeatedly into the metal wall behind him by the enraged bot, Slasher using its thick armor to smash him into the metal surface till he dropped his saber, the beam deactivating as it left his hand. The red armored bull of a robot dashed back as the leader of the three mechs aimed his machine gun at him, the other robot using the time bought by the attack of his friend to reclaim the weapon.

"Gundams are suppose to be tough, but I guess you are only one in name." Kroc laughed as he pulled the trigger to his weapon, sending a flurry of bullets at the one armed robot. "So long Gundam! I was planning on taking your cannon, but with all of the ones here I don't need you anymore. I wish I could say it was nice knowing you… but it would be a lie."

The green armored robot chuckled as he fired the heavy cannon at the Gundam repeatedly, the explosive rounds blasting layers of paint off of the old warrior, exposing bare metal. The combined attack of the two firearms caused the Gundams body to spark, some of the rounds hitting the open wound in his side and sent him into a large fit of pain. The head of the Gundam turned slowly to look at the young human still hiding behind the deactivated unit, his blue eyes filled with pain from his injuries, wishing that she was anywhere else but there watching his end.

"This… this can't be happening." Sam thought to herself, as she watched the Gundam beaten back into the wall, the metal surface dented in the form of his body and seeming to hold him in place. "He's a Gundam; he is suppose to be the mightiest of all the robots created, guardians of the planet and of mankind. He can't be defeated by these three, he just can't be!"

One of the rounds from the cannon struck Lieutenant in the center of his chest, causing the green gem to fracture into the shape of an X, part of it flaking off onto the floor. Slasher signaled for the other two to stop firing as the mech stepped forward, raising his sword up and glaring at the now heavily damaged Gundam.

"I can't let you two have all the fun." Slasher said as the mech smiled, "Besides, I have to get him back for what he did to me."

"Whatever you say Slasher." Kroc chuckled as he looked at the now one horned robot. "You can finish him off."

"Thank you." The sword wielding robot said, as he took his sword with both hands, "I know exactly where I am going to strike. Hey Gundam, want to guess? I'll give you a hint… X marks the spot!"

Sam's eyes widened as she sees the other robot starting to run forward with his sword, "No… Lieutenant! Someone… someone please…"

The young human shut her eyes tightly as tears form in them, "Please… HELP HIM!"

As if hearing her cry, two golden rings lifted up from their dark holding place and start to spin as an orb of light formed, held captive by the rings. The sound of something starting up suddenly shocked the girl as much as the feeling of something moving quickly away from her, knocking her back onto her rear. She opened her eye to see the back of another Gundam flying towards Slasher, the white, blue, red, and gold robot sending the Dark Cirrus robot flying to the side with a single hit. The unknown Gundam landed on its feet quickly as it reached behind its back and pulls out a beam rifle, aiming it at the two others and fired off several shots. The faded green Jenice yelled out as he is sent flying by a direct hit from the weapon, his mono eye changing to form an X before he hit's the ground and shut down, his body sparking from a hole blown through his armor. Kroc growled as he jumped back and dashed quickly to avoid the shots, and stopped close to the fallen red armored robot to help him to his feet.

"B-Boss!" Slasher stammered, the red warriors voice now sounded much different, more like a womans. "It's another- MY VOICE!"

"Another Gundam X." The purple and black armored robot snarled as he helps his comrade up, "That girl must have activated him."

The green optics of the newly awaked Gundam flash for a moment, a pair of green eyes form in them that match Sam's. "Dark Cirrus robots… here in the base?"

The young Gundam kept his beam rifle trained on the two robots, causing them both to jump back in fear. Slasher looked at the leader of the now duo for a moment before looking back at the Gundam, pointing at Kroc as if trying to indicate that the Gundam should shoot him first instead. The green eyed robot seemed to narrow his eyes as he picked up the sight of the battle damaged Lieutenant, his mind figuring out quickly what was going on, taking a step toward the two robots. The two remaining bandits step back with each step the Gundam took, not sure how well armed he is after being reactivated, but not wanting to risk fighting a fully functional unit. Slasher edged away quickly as Kroc started to do the same, spotting a door further away that is partly open due to another malfunction with the lock, the two making a ran for it quickly.

"T-this is only a temporary retreat!" Kroc shouted as he ran away with Slasher, "We'll be back!"

The newly activated Gundam lowered his beam rifle as he saw the two exit the door, his head following the sound of their feet on the floor outside the room, making sure that they exit the base. The green eyed unit turned around to look at the one armed unit curiously, walking over to him to help him out of the wall.

"You are badly damaged, sir; we should get you to the base mechanics right away." The younger Gundam said, helping to support Lieutenant, his voice sounding like a young teenage boy.

"Lieutenant!" Sam shouted as she came out from her hiding place and started to run over to the one armed Gundam, only to stop as the other units head snapped up to look at her. "Oh… Uhm, hi."

The Gundam studied her for a minute, giving her a curious look, "You don't look old enough to be a mechanic… Are you a member of a cadet training corps?"

The corner of the girls lip twitched a bit as she smiled nervously, trying to figure out what the robot was asking her. "Uhm… I guess you can say that. I am a mechanic."

"Excellent, this unit requires repairs." The other Gundam said as he continued to help the one armed Gundam.

Lieutenant grumbled as he worked himself free of the other Gundam X's hold, staggering a bit on his feet before he regained his balance with the aid of the wall. "I don't need help walking… I'm fine."

"But… you are still badly damaged, sir, you need to rest and get repairs." The green eyed Gundam said, his eyes filled with alarm for the other unit's condition.

"I do need rest, but I don't need your help walking." Lieutenant sighed as he walked over to the transport and sat down on the flatbed, the younger Gundam staying close by to catch him if he should stumble.

Sam looked at the older battle scarred Gundam, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. "Are you sure that you are going to be okay Lieutenant? You look like you could fall apart at any second now."

"I'm fine Sam." The blue eyed Gundam sighed as he rested on the transport, "I have been survived worse then those three before."

"That is good to hear Lieutenant." The green eyed Gundam X said, seeming to smile. "I shall alert the mechanical bay that you will be arriving."

The younger Gundam turned around and paused as he started to look around him, looking confused by his surroundings. "Wait… where are we? This isn't Gaia Centre Headquarters… Where are the other units and personnel? Didn't they try to stop the Dark Cirrus forces from invading the base?"

Sam exchanged looks with the Lieutenant before looking at the other Gundam and let out a sigh, "Something tells me that we are going to have a talk, and you aren't going to like it."


	2. Chapter 2

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Two**

**  
**_**"Deadly Shot"**_

Kroc Ace growled as he paced back and forth the bridge of a destroyed land battleship left abandoned in the woods, the mono-eyed robot's metal feet scraping and clicking against the rusty metal making up the ships floor. "I can't believe that we got our cans handed to us by a one armed relic and a Gundam that looks like he just stepped out of the shower with a fresh coat of paint!"

"I can't believe it either, but at least one good thing came out of it." Slasher said, digging through a box of parts looking for a horn to replace the one cut off in the battle, the robots voice now that of a female robot.

"And what would that be?" The black and purple robot asked, glaring at the robot.

"That hit that new Gundam X gave me fixed my voice box." The red armored robot smiled, attaching a new horn to her helmet. "At last, no one will mistaken me for a guy any more."

Kroc's shoulders slumped as he hung his head, "Slasher… I think that hit also knocked some of your logic circuits off balance."

"No, I don't think so." The other Dark Cirrus robot replied, checking her sword, "I still want to get that one armed freak of a Gundam back for what he did to me. Disfiguring me like that, and making a mockery of my sword fighting skills. I can't forgive him for that… I am suppose to be a master of swords, and yet he beat me back with only one arm!"

"We would have won that fight, if it weren't for that human girl activating that other Gundam X." Kroc snarled as he clenched his fists, "He took out the only remaining soldier of our army! Sure he was a cowardly twerp, but he was still a survivor of our once proud army. I can't forgive him for destroying him like he did, a one shot kill… after surviving all these years on this wretched planet."

Slasher rested a hand on the shoulder of her leader, "We'll get our vengeance on those Gundams, and I know we will. We just have to come up with some kind of plan that will destroy them both, and allow us to have the base. I am sure that there is something in there that will help us get back into space, and then we can rejoin our brothers and sisters in arms back at the colonies."

"I know Slasher… I know." The dark armored robot smiled as his optic flashed, "And I think I know just the way that we can defeat them."

"Oh?" The horned robot perked up as she leaned in closer to her commander, "Please tell me what you are thinking."

* * *

"So, we lost the war..." The younger Gundam said sadly, looked out a large wall of blown out windows at the sun setting behind the remains of the ship crashed in the center of a city. "A colony drop of that size, it is un-imaginable."

"The truth of the matter is that no one won the war." Lieutenant informed the newly activated Gundam, after bring him up to speed with the fifteen years that he missed. "The colony drop destroyed much of the planet and life on it, but the battle in space was just as deadly. The forces of the Dark Cirrus were devastated to the point that there was no winner to the conflict. At best, you could say the war ended with a draw."

"But what about those Jenice's that were attacking you and the base?" The green eyed Gundam asked as he looked at the older Gundam X, "If the enemy forces were so devastated, then how could the mount an attack on the base?"

"They got into the base the same way that we did, we just walked right in since it was abandoned." Sam said, working on repairing some of the damage done to Lieutenants body as he sat in a chair. "I think that the people that were stationed at this base left when they heard of the colony drop, and just figured that it was destroyed so they never returned. The Jenice's that were here are survivors just like the rest of us, only they make their living as bandits now and aren't a part of a military force."

The young Gundam sighed as he shook his head, "What has happened to our world… I though that once the war was over, and the forces of the Dark Cirrus destroyed, that the world would be at peace. But now, just look at it… from what you two have told me there is just as much chaos and death now as there was during the war. What am I suppose to do now Lieutenant? I was made to fight and join you in battle against the Dark Cirrus, but with no war or them to fight against, I don't have a purpose to function do I?"

Lieutenant closed his eyes for a moment, "I have been roaming this planet for fifteen years trying to find an answer to that question, cutting off my contact with others. I am not sure that I have found an answer yet, but something inside of me told me to protect Sam. I can not fully explain it, but for some reason, I felt a need to protect her."

"Thank you… Lieutenant." The young human blushed as she continued to repair the Gundam, not sure what else to say to him.

"Then… I guess that will be my function as well." The younger Gundam X nodded, turning to look at the young girl and the older Gundam. "I shall follow your orders Lieutenant."

The one armed Gundam stared at the younger robot carefully, his eyes examining him as he looked him over. Lieutenant paused as he looked into the green eyes of the Gundam, remembering back to a time when he was first activated and watching the activation of two other Gundams being assigned to a pair of NewTypes. His eyes widened as he looked at Sam, seeing the same color green eyes as the newly activated unit, a shudder running through his system.

"It can't be… could it?" Lieutenant thought silently to himself as he looked at the human repairing some of the damage done to him, the girl as skilled as any adult mechanic he has come across, or even more so.

"Tell me," The blue eyed Gundam looked at the other unit slowly, "What is your name."

"My name?" The younger Gundam looked confused as he blinked at the battle damaged Gundam X. "I… I don't have one. I don't even have a rank yet. I was to be given one and assigned a human partner once I was transferred to Jaburo, and then sent to reinforce the line in space."

"Well, we can't just be going around calling you 'no name', now can we?" Sam smiled, standing up after finishing the repairs that the older Gundam allowed her to do. "How about we call you X."

"X?" Lieutenant stared at the girl for a moment, puzzled by the choice of name. "Why X?"

"It is something that I learned in school" The young human smiled, "In math when you have something that is unknown you define its variable as X. Also, he is a Gundam X unit, so why not call him X?"

"That makes sense to me." The younger Gundam nodded as he smiled. Putting his feet together and saluting the older unit, "X, reporting for duty Lieutenant, sir! Uhm… permission to ask you a question, sir."

Lieutenant sighed as he addressed as an officer for the first time in many year, not really liking it one bit. "Permission granted. What is your question?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. Since you are the highest ranking officer at this base now, wouldn't it require you to take a field promotion to the rank of Commander or Captain?" X asked as he stared at the one armed robot.

The scarred Gundam stared at X for a moment before he let out an exasperated sigh, "That is a good question."

"I think that the Lieutenant would rather keep his current rank." Sam chuckled as she looked at the younger Gundam X, "But if it makes you feel better, you can think of him as a Lieutenant Commander, I think. Well, at least until we find someone of higher rank that is capable of taking command."

"Understood." The bright eyed X replied, seeming to smile behind his facemask. "I shall go find some quarters for us to use Lieutenant, please excuse me."

Lieutenant waited for the younger Gundam to leave the room before he let out another sigh, and hung his head. "I never expected to run into another Gundam, let alone another one like me."

"You mean that you didn't know that there was another Gundam X unit?" Sam asked as she sat down beside the Gundam. "I think that it is very neat, two Gundam X's in one place, and no one even knew about there being one in this place. This is so incredibly awesome, and I am friends with you both!"

"Friends?" The blue eyed Lieutenant looked at the young human curiously, "We are friends?"

"Well… I thought that we were." Sam blushed, looking at the scarred face of the Gundam for a moment before looking down at the floor. "I never really had any friend before, or someone that stood up for me like you did… well, except for my father. I wouldn't mind being your friend Lieutenant, if you don't mind being mine."

The battle hardened Gundam looked down at the young human's hands for a moment, placing his hand over hers and squeezed them ever so gently. "I am not sure if you would really want me for a friend, I have done a great many things in the past that would give anyone reason to hate me."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, stared at the Gundam puzzled. "I know that Gundams are fighters, so that means that you have killed in order to protect others. What else could you have done that would make someone hate you?"

"This…" The optics of the blue eyed Gundam changed as he shuts them off, something that he learned from observing humans. "I caused all of this. I was the one that fired the shot that brought the colonies dropping down onto the planet. I am the reason that so many humans died on Gaia. I was the first Gundam to be made, and everyone called me a "Hero" for the things that I did and they had planned for me. But, when the time came, I ended up being nothing but the destroyer of worlds… I destroyed so many lives, and I couldn't protect others. That is why people have more then enough reason to hate me, and why you would hate me as well, and why I kept myself away from others for so long."

Sam swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked at the old Gundam, his armored body racked with scars from battles from the past and the one just moments ago. A feeling of anger at the Gundam rises inside her for a moment before she remembered some of the things that he endured over the years. The long three years of nuclear winter that covered the planet, killing off almost as much as the population as the explosions from the colony drop. The sickness that spread amongst the survivors called "colony sickness" that even claimed her own mother, the one armed Gundam living through all of it along side the humans, even if he was not physically with them. The young human studied the face of the Gundam, feeling the sadness inside of him and the remorse for his actions, her anger melted away quickly.

"We… we have to let what happened in the past, stay in the past." The young teen said, squeezed the metal hand of the Gundam back. "We have to learn from the past so that we don't make the same mistakes, but as long as we continue to live in the past, we will never be able to see the future."

"What?" The scarred Gundam looked at the girl confused by her words, and the shaking in her voice.

"It's something that my father told me, it is one of his favorite saying." Sam explained, looking away sadly for a moment, "He said it was something that he learned from my mother."

"Those are very wise words…"Lieutenant said as he looked at the young human, reading the sadness in her face as she mentions her mother. "Something… happened to your mother didn't it?"

The young teen closed her eyes as she nodded, "She got sick after I was born. The doctors couldn't do anything for her because it was something she was sick with since before she had me."

"I see…" The Gundam looked down at the girls hands, seeing that they have small cuts on them from the years of hard work that she has been doing to survive on the planet.

The one armed warrior thought for a moment before he stood up, the move shocked the girl for a brief second before she rose up and helped to steady him. "Your mother's words are correct… and, I am tired of living this way. I think that I have decided."

"Decided what?" Sam asked, looking at the Gundam, puzzled by his statement.

Lieutenant turned to face the girl, looking up slightly at her. "I can't run away from my past, but for the past decade and a half I have lived in it for too long and carried the burden of it on my back. That is why I need your help now Sam, I want you to help me remove this weapon from me. It has been with me for many years, and if I am to live in this world, then I will have to leave this in the past along with the things that I have done."

The girl stared at him for a moment before she shook her head to clear it, "Wait, you mean you are going to get yourself repaired? I thought that you didn't want to be."

"I do not think that I can get myself fully repaired." The Gundam replied, looking at his missing arm. "There are humans in this world that live with the scars of their past, as well as old wounds. They have learned to overcome them and go on with their lives. Why shouldn't I be the same…? Besides, you are going to need some way to tell X and I apart aren't you?"

Sam chuckled as she thought of the fact that there are now two Gundam X's around, "Yes, I guess you have a point. Let's get you someplace where I have more tools to work with and where we can put that cannon in a safe place. I don't think that you want anyone to get a hold of your weapon."

"Yes, that would be a good idea." The Gundam nodded, "The weapon system might be part of my system, but there is a possibility someone could find a way to get it to work without the use of the program. Now then, should we get to work?"

"Let's see now… that should do it." The dark green haired man smiled, closing the side panel of his small biplane and locking it into place before climbing into the cockpit. "Here it goes."

He opened up a panel in the cockpit and loaded a shotgun like cartridge into the chamber before locking it down and firing, the prop started to spin and pop as he pushes the throttle up on the plane. The engine coughed a bit more as he loaded another cartridge into the chamber, firing it off again till the engine roared to life fully. The pilot cheered as he banged on the side of the open cockpit, victorious over the troublesome engine once more as he slowly powered it down to a stop.

"Well now, it looks like you are still as hyper as ever Ran." A woman's voice said behind him, forcing the man to turn his head around to look at her.

"Ennil? What are you doing here?" He asked as he slowly climbed out of the cockpit and hopped down onto the ground, wiping some of the oil form his hands with a rag from his back pocket.

"Aw, now is that anyway to great an old friend?" Ennil smiled, walking up to the man. "I just came by to see how you and Sam are doing since I heard that she was close to that fight that broke out in town."

"There was a fight in town?" Ran looked at the woman confused, "I don't remember hearing anything about that."

"Let me guess… you were so wrapped up in your work that you didn't even hear the explosions right?" The woman sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair, "You are always getting lost in your work now it seems."

Ran shrugged as he shook his head, "Yeah, but it pays the bills doesn't it? So, what are you really here for Ennil? Come to see if you can snag me away from my daughter for some time to go on a date with you? If I told you once, then I have told you a thousand times, I will never go out with you or anyone else. There are only two women in my life, and you aren't one of them."

"I didn't come here to get you to go out on a date with me Ran, as tempting as it is. I came here to tell you about what happened in town." Ennil said, poking a finger into Ran's chest, "The fight in town involved your daughter, and something that was very disturbing to hear. The bandits that attacked were driven back by a Gundam."

Ran's eyes widened as he stared at the woman, "Gun… dam."

"Yes, a Gundam." Ennil nodded, folding her arms over her chest. "From what the witnesses report, it only had one arm and a scar on its face, but it carried a large cannon on its back with X shaped fins. You and I both know exactly what kind of Gundam that is, even if it might not be publicly known to everyone else here."

The man backed away to one of his worktables in shock, his hands held himself up as he felt his legs grow weaker with the news. "Gundam X… are you absolutely sure that it was Sam that they saw with it?"

Ennil nodded as she sighed and walked over to the man, seeing the concern in his face. "I am, the people were too much in shock to pay enough attention to the fact that it was her with it. They gave vague descriptions of who they saw, but were very clear in detail on the Gundam. I was the able to piece together that it was Sam from all the reports and I had them sealed. One of the benefits of being mayor and having access to defense reports for the town. I came here to tell you about it because you know how much I care for you and Sam. Your wife and I helped to rebuild this town after the war, and we all became such close friends. That is why I sealed the reports and came here to see you."

"Do you know if Sam has been displaying any of the abilities that your wife had?" Ennil asked, looking at the girls' father.

Ran shook his head, recovering a bit from the shock. "No, I haven't seen anything that would suggest that she would."

"It might still be a good idea to keep an eye on her though." Ennil said, nodding slowly. "Do you know where she is?"

"No, I haven't seen her since this morning when she said she was going to scavenge some parts." Ran said slowly, his mouth feeling dry.

"Well, when she gets home try and find out where she is hiding the Gundam." She instructed him, "We know how dangerous that type of Gundam is, and it would be in her best interests if she wasn't close to him."

Ran nodded as he turned around and looked at a picture of his family hanging from a peg in the wall, himself standing beside a brown haired woman with blue eyes holding onto a young baby girl. "I'll ask her if she knows anything, and if she doesn't then you will let this drop. Do you understand Ennil?"

"Ran…" Ennil looked at him in shock, the tone of his voice more serious then she has ever heard come from the lighthearted man.

"Tiffa was used during the war because of her abilities, and if Sam does have similar ones, I refuse to allow anyone use her in the same way. If I ask her if she knows where the Gundam is and she tells me that she doesn't know, then that will be that." Ran said firmly, "Not I or you, or anyone else is to ask her about it after that. You understand don't you Ennil?"

Ennil nodded as she closed her eyes, "I understand Ran. I'll make sure that nothing happens to you or Sam, I owe that much to Tiffa and you for what you both did for me."

"Thank you Ennil." Ran said softly as he heard the woman leave, his hand going to his chest to wrap around the military identification tags under it and the necklace with a dolphin. "Tiffa… what am I going to do if she is exactly like you?"

* * *

"C-C-C-COMMANDER!" X stuttered and shouted as he pointed at a finger at the battle scarred warrior. "What have you done to yourself!?"

Lieutenant blinked as he stared at the younger Gundam, "What do you mean? Haven't you seen another Gundam X without his cannon and backpack before?"

X shook his head from side to side as he looked at his commanding officer, the other Gundam a strange sight to see without the fins on his back or the cannon. "No, I've never seen another Gundam without one; you are the only one that I have seen sir. Why did you remove your cannon commander? Was it damaged in the attack?"

"No, it wasn't damaged." The young human chuckled as she pushed a wheeled cart with an A frame on it, the frame holding the satellite cannon of the older Gundam. "He just asked me to remove it for him and I did."

"But… but why Commander, sir?" X asked, still in shock.

"I thought that it was time that I start to put my past behind me, and part of my past is that cannon." Lieutenant replied, "That is something that I would like to talk to you about as well. I do not want you to fire your cannon."

"Sir?" X looked at the other Gundam puzzled, "You don't want me to fire my cannon? Why?"

The older robot closed his eyes as he let out a sigh, "There are things in my past that I do not want you to go through, do you understand X?"

"No… I don't sir. But if you don't want me to use my cannon, then I can do that Commander, sir." The younger Gundam saluted him, standing before Lieutenant proudly. "But… what are you going to do with your cannon now?"

Sam smiled, as she continued to push the cart along, "I'm going to put it in a safe place so that only we can get at it."

"Instead of talking about my cannon being gone, how about we help Sam put it in a safe place so that she can get ready to return back to her home." Lieutenant said, walking over to the young girl and helping her.

X blinked as he tried to understand everything, "What do you mean by her returning home? I thought that she would want to stay here at the base with us. I have a room ready for her."

"I don't think that I should stay here for the night." Sam explained, "My father might be use to me being out late, but I don't think that he would like that I have been out exploring the mountains this late at night. He might throw a fit if he finds out that I have been here, he always tells me how dangerous these mountains are."

"I see…" The younger Gundam nodded, walking over and helping to steer the cart down the hall into one of the weapons vaults of the base. "In that case, would you like for us to escort you home?"

"No, that is alright X." The young girl smiled, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and making her way towards the main entrance of the base. "Besides, it might be better for you to stay here with Lieutenant. He can tell you more about this world so that you can understand it more. A lot has happened since you were last up and running around."

"If that is what you would like me to do, then I shall stay here at Freeden Base with the Lieutenant." X nodded as he looked at the girl, following her along with the older Gundam.

"Freeden base?" Sam looked behind her at the green eyed robot, puzzled slightly.

"That is the name of this base." The young Gundam informed her, "I was active for a short time when I got here so that the crew could do some maintenance to me and I was informed about my location."

"It is an odd name, but I guess it must have been named that for a reason. Most likely named after someone, or someone just misspelled the name and it stuck." Sam chuckled, looking at the expression on the younger Gundams face.

"How can a name get stuck?" X asked, very puzzled by the statement.

Lieutenant sighed as he shook his head, "It is a human expression X, something else that I am going to have to teach you about I see."

Sam dug around in her backpack for a moment as they stopped at the front door to the base, making sure that she has everything for her trip back home, including a few bits and pieces of small electronics as an excuse for her father. Satisfied she closed the bag up once more and looked at the two Gundams with a smile.

"Well, it has been fun guys, but I should start heading for home now so that it won't be that dark when I get there." The young teen smiled, "Try not to cause any trouble for the Lieutenant, okay X? I'll try and see if I can get back here tomorrow with some more supplies for you both. I'm not sure how good some of the things here might be after sitting for so long."

"I shall be on my best behavior Sam." X replied, giving her a salute. "I shall follow all the orders of my commanding officer."

Sam chuckled as she sees the expression in the older Gundams eyes, Lieutenant not seeming to care much for the formality of the other Gundam. "I'm sure that you will do just that X, and you have fun teaching him as well Lieutenant."

"I shall try to." The older Gundam nodded, "Thank you for repairing my damage, and for talking with me Sam."

"It was my pleasure." The young human smiled, "To be honest, it was my first time working on a Gundam, and I am just glad that you are alright. I'll see you two later, take care now."

The young girl reached for one of the doors to the base and opened it easily, the heavy metal door making a rusty creak as it swung open. She stepped out into the fading daylight only to stop in her tracks as she felt something come over her, her eyes moved over to see a small green armored Jenice pop out from the bushes with a gun aimed at her. Sam shouted as she slammed the door close only to have it blasted off of its hinges, and send her to the floor. The two Gundams rushed to her quickly, her ears ringing so loudly that she couldn't make out a thing they were saying. The younger Gundam nodded as he pulled out his beam rifle and started to fire through the hole in the wall at the unknown number of attackers in the forest and rocks around the base, the one armed Gundam helping her to a more safer location as her hearing started to come back to her.

"SAM!" Lieutenant shouted as he looked at her with concern, "Are you alright? Answer me!"

"I… I'm alright, just a little shook up." The young teen replied, holding her head. "There was a Jenice out there."

X peeked out from around the corner of the door frame, firing his beam rifle, "Lieutenant, there are multiple units out there… they are a mix of Dark Cirrus and Gaia Force's!"

"Bandits." Lieutenant growled, dashing over to the door quickly to look out at the mixed group of units with different weapons configurations.

"They look like cannibals, Lieutenant." X replied with a nod and continued to fire his beam rife at several of the other robots, noticing how they turn on each other once one of them gets injured.

The older Gundam scanned the large army of robots, "You can call them that. They take what ever they can from who ever they can, even their own allies are not safe from them once they smell blood or see them damaged. They will scrap their own kind just to get a part that they have. They don't care about humans either, as long as they get what they want… and right now what they want is what we have… the satellite system."

"If that is what they want, then I shall give it to them." X said as he started to bring his cannon around, only to be stopped by the hand of the other Gundam and remembering his order. "What are we going to do then?"

"The only thing that we can do," Lieutenant pulled the beam saber from the back of the younger Gundam and held it tightly in his hand. "We are going to have to go out there and fight them. They don't care about human lives as long as they get what they want, and if we are going to protect Sam, then we have to go out there and stop them before they can get into this base."

"Yes, Sir, Lieutenant!" The younger Gundam shouted, following Lieutenant out the door and firing his beam rifle as the other Gundam used the beam saber to smack bullets and other projectiles from the air with ease.

The two battle against the hordes of attacking machines, all of them unleashing everything they have at them till their white armor of the Gundams is stained with the marks left by their weapons. Kroc Ace chuckled as he waved on the attackers, watching them from the rear lines of the battle.

"That's right boys and girls, let them have it!" Kroc shouted, "Turn those Gundams into scrap if you have to! We shall divide the spoils of that base together and return to space where we belong!"

Sam peered out of the door way to see the battle unfolding, both of the Gundams holding off as many attacks as they can while taking hit after hit, their own attacks only slowing the advance of the large group. She turned away as she reached up and clutches her chest, feeling her heart pounding as she closes her eyes at the sounds of the gunfire and explosions grow in volume. She opened her eyes in a flash as ran into the storage hanger near by and looked at all of the deactivated units, part of her wishing that she could wake the sleeping G-bit units. The young teen shook her head as she goes over to one of the robots and pulled at a beam rifle on its backpack, the weapon finally giving way as the aged clips fail, sending her back onto her rear. Sam lifted the gun up and looks around her to see something sitting in the corner with a tarp over it, the girl ran quickly over to it, the gun growing heavy in her arms as she does.

She tears the tarp off of the object to reveal a hover bike, the small craft used to help transport things like the bed that X was resting on, the green eyed girl nodded as she hopped onto the bike and set the gun up on the handlebars. Sam flipped a switch to bring the bike to life after its long slumber, the hover jets coughing dust before they start working fully and she pushed it forward, guiding it out of the hanger bay and toward the doors the Gundams exited out of.

"Alright Sam, this is it… you have never been afraid of anything before, so don't you start now." The girl said to herself as she guns the engine of the bike and fires the rifle, its beam blasting the other door off its hinges and allowing her to scream out on the bike.

The explosion behind him caused Lieutenant to stagger forward in shock, turning to see the young human coming out firing a beam rifle. "SAM!? What do you think you are doing!?"

"What does it look like, I'm helping!" The young girl shouted as she steered the bike, dodging the fire from the different robots and returning fire with uncanny skill.

Lieutenant stared at the girl in disbelief for a moment before returning to fight off the attacks of the other robots, his mind trying to figure out how she could possibly be doing what she is. The attack by the army of bandits grew more dangerous as they start to fire artillery weapons and missiles, not caring if they even hit their own people as long as they get their hands on the Gundam. The one armed Gundam growled as he stepped up his own attack, swinging his saber hard enough that it left a large trail of energy behind it. The saber attack knocked several missiles back at their senders, causing the robots to panic and distracting them from locking onto Sam, the young human darting about still on her bike and holding her own against the skilled soldiers.

"She can't be… she just can't be." Lieutenant said, shutting his eyes for a moment as he shook the thought from his mind, continuing his defensive attacks.

A large blast caused X to fall to his knees, the young Gundam struggled up to his feet as he is assaulted by a barrage of gunfire. He cringed as he looked over to see Lieutenant fighting off the others around him, the Jenice and Daughtress' getting close enough for the older Gundam to kick them. The young human riding around on the hover bike continued to fire her beam rifle as she dodged attacks with amazing skill. X forced himself to remain standing as he saw everything unfolding around him, the large army growing closer with each second and slowly driving them back towards the base. The cannon on his back swung up into position and locked itself onto his shoulder as he took hold of the handle, his fins opening wide.

Sam felt her bike jar a bit as she narrowly missed one of the shots fired at her, "Please, let this work! Just hold on a little more longer…"

"Please… let this work." The younger Gundam echoed the words of the human as he holds his cannon ready, closing his eyes.

"Please… give me more power!" Both the human and Gundam said at the same time, the effect causing the gem in X's helmet and chest to flash.

High above the planet on the surface of the moon, the computers in an abandoned lunar base activate, the screens showed the ruined landscape of the planet as it searched for its target. A pair of crosshairs locked onto a location in the northern hemisphere of the planet, causing the screen to change to display the registration number of a Gundam X unit. The bases satellite dish powered up its stored solar energy and fired a microwave beam at its target, the beam moving clouds out of the way to form a halo. It strikes the gem located in the chest of X fully, completing the connection and starting the transfer of power over to him. The fins on the back of the Gundam as well as the blue plates of armor on his shoulders, arms, and legs glow with power as he aimed his cannon.

Lieutenant paused what he is doing as he felt the energy coming from the other Gundam, turning around to look at what he is doing. The one armed Gundam started to move towards him, but stopped as he realized that it is too late and instead rushed over to the young teen age girl. He tossed the beam saber aside as he got close to Sam, wrapping his arm around her quickly before using the hover bike as a spring board to jump back over X and land behind him as the other Gundam fires. The sound of the cannon firing triggered memories in the older Gundam as he shielded the young human, feeling he heat of the blast against his armored hide.

"Lieutenant?" Sam shouted over the roar of the cannon as she clung to the Gundam, "What is going on?"

"A nightmare… a fifteen year old nightmare." The Gundam said simply as he continued to shield the girl.

X shouted as he struggled to keep his footing, the ground under his feet shaking with the power of his cannon. He swept the large beam of energy over the advancing army of robots, their armor and bodies vanishing as it moved past them to leave no trace of their existence. X saw that he is nearing the direction of the town and screamed louder as he pulled up, lifting the cannon so it points at the sky to send its deadly beam into the empty void of space. He let go of the trigger finally as the energy meter for the cannon read zero, panting as he stood there and looked at the destruction before him. The few surviving members of the attacking army of bandits turn and ran quickly away, fleeing for their lives from the nightmarish weapon of the Gundam.

Lieutenant looked at the younger Gundam sadly for a moment before looking down at Sam, the girl holding onto him tightly as she looked at the destruction, a side of the mountain completely blown away by the single shot. "X… Sam, I'm sorry."


	3. Chapter 3

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Three**

**  
**_**"The Iron Knight and the Knightress of Sorrow"**_

_In the wake of the war between the Dark Cirrus and the Gaia Force, the survivors on Gaia had to find a way to survive in the new world created in the wake of the colony drop. They formed new nations and governments to fill the gap left by the destroyed Gaia government. The new nations and kingdoms that formed set aside the old ways and adopted instead those of a previous era, and a new generation was born into the world. Setting aside beam saber for metal swords and axes, as well as machine guns for bolt action crossbows, the robots and machines of this new world once more took the role of defenders, but this time as knights. But with every nation ruled by man, ambition takes hold and sometimes the ambitions of others can lead to the inevitable… conflict._

King Willis sat on his thrown wearing a navy blue military uniform, decorated with different ribbons and crests that he earned in the service of protecting his kingdom. He looked at the two top generals of his armies, one of them a white haired human wearing a white uniform, and the other an ivory armored robot that has long been his defender. He stared at them as they relayed the news to him from the outlying areas of the kingdom, and the other nations surrounding them, his blue eyes stern as steel.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked as he continued to look at the two generals, "Is this information absolutely correct?"

"It has been confirmed sire, there is a large force moving out of Fort Severn that are heading in this direction. They are flying the colors of Prince Carris, and are being led by the Knightress Bertigo. Anything in their path has been destroyed, turned to stone by some sort of magic."

"Carris…" The king said the name of the prince as he clenched his hands into fists tightly. "Foolish boy, do you really think that you can accomplish anything with this course of action?"

"Your highness, what would you like us to do?" The stout human general asked, "Do you think it is wise to challenge Prince Carris? I'm sure that if we can talk with him that he will listen to reason."

"I have to disagree with you General Stewart." The ivory armored said as he looked at his fellow general. "I think that this goes far beyond simply reasoning with the young Prince. He has already started to advance toward the palace and at the read that he is going he will be here shortly. Everything in the wake of his army has been turned to stone by some kind of dark magic. The only option that I feel we have opened to us now is to meet him on the battlefield."

"Estardoth, have you gone mad!" Stewart shouted as he turned to face the robot, "Bertigo is a skilled fighter, she could easily defeat any army set before her. You are the one that trained her after all."

"It is because I trained her that I know this is not a hopeless situation, and that I can defeat her." Estardoth glared at the human with his single large optic behind his visored helmet. "Have you forgotten that I am the First Knight of Estar? I have defended this kingdom for far longer then you have been in the service. So do not presume to tell me what I can and can't do."

"You arrogant paint can!" General Stewart growled as he stared down at the heavily armored robot, "You would destroy us all!"

"ENOUGH!" King Willis shouted as he stood up and silenced both of his generals, "I shall not have you insulting one another, is that clear General Stewart? What we need right now is a clear mind and one army, not an army divided by the bickering of its generals. We have been able to keep this kingdom safe for nearly ten years now because we worked together in the early years, and we can't afford to let out teamwork fall apart now. Only a combined army can hope to stand against the army that Prince Carris is leading, and we are going to have to face him because of the actions he has done."

The king closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at his generals, "Bertigo was trained by Sir Estardoth, so he does know how to fight her and what she is capable of. That makes our chances of defeating Prince Carris' army even greater. I would like to think that we would be able to meet peacefully with the Prince, but if this is the course of action that he wishes to take, then we are going to have to face him on the battlefield. He has already started his advance, and so we are going to have to try and stop him."

"Once we have accomplished that, we will be able to restore the land and everything else touched by him and his army." King Willis continued, "These are my orders. Assemble the grand army; we are going to face Prince Carris before he can reach the palace and this capital."

"But… but your majesty!" Stewart tried to protest, only to be silenced by the king's gaze. "Yes sire, as you command."

Estardoth knelt down before the king as he bowed his head, "It has been my duty to protect you your highness. I shall be your shield and your spear once more in these dark times my lordship."

The large framed robot stood up and turned with General Stewart to walk out the room and leave the king quietly. Estardoth breathed a heavy sigh as the doors to the throne room closed behind him and he parted company with his human counterpart to see to their respected troops. His ivory and red armor reflect the light as the dark black patches that were visible at his joints made his armor look all the brighter. He passed rows of robots designed similarly to him, but wearing dark blue and black colored armor instead, and devoid of the cape that he has attached to his armor. The red optic of flashed as he heard someone running up from behind him and turned his head to see another heavily armored knight.

"Sir Estardoth!" The younger knight called as he continued to run up to him, blue armor covered his chest and arms, as well as a portion of his legs, with gold and red trim highlighting parts of it. His helmet showed a unique design with two protrudions that appeared to be the ears of a cat. His golden double V crest was close together and swept upward like two small wings or feathers on his blue and white helmet as an orange gem shimmered in the light. A red cape flowed behind him that matched the protruding red orb in the center of his chest. "Sir Estardoth! Is it true?"

"Is what true Leo?" Estardoth asked as he started to walk once more at the same pace as before, and motioned for the younger knight to follow him.

"I heard that Prince Carris and the Knightress Bertigo are marching towards the castle, and that the town of Northernbell has fallen already to his troops." The Knight Gundam said, "Is it true? Does the Prince really plan on starting a war?"

"He isn't planning to, he has already started one." Estardoth replied as he lowered his head, "I had hoped that there would be no more need for such things, but it seems that the ambitions of a young Prince are no match for an old warrior's dream of peace."

"But how can he be moving so quickly?" Leo asked as he stared at his mentor, "It's not possible for an army like the one that he has to be able to take over entire towns in less then a day."

"He is using some kind of magic, which is all that we can think to call it since those that have escaped from it can only think of that word to describe it." Estardoth explained, "Some how he has found a way to control a dark cloud that can turn everything in its wake into stone. Not even the birds flying in the sky are safe from it."

"Why hasn't Bertigo tried to stop him? Has she forgotten her loyalty to his majesty King Willis?" Leo asked as he continued to stare at Estardoth with blue eyes.

The older knight shook his head slowly, "Her loyalty is to Prince Carris, and it always has been since the day they met. She is as loyal to him as you are to the Princess, and just like you, Bertigo will do whatever she can to aide Prince Carris."

"I would like to come with you." Leo said suddenly, "You are going to face them both; you are going to need my help Master Knight Estardoth. You can't take on Bertigo alone, not with an army behind her."

Estardoth stopped in his tracks suddenly and nearly caused the Gundam to fall over with shock as he turned to face him sharply. "Your duty is to remain here and protect the palace and the Princess, do not forget that Leo. If by some chance that Prince Carris and Bertigo make it past us or if some small part of their army reaches the palace then you are the only one that can stop them and protect the Princess. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes sir." Leo nodded his head as he looked down at his feet.

"Good, now go to the Princess and we shall talk no more of this." Estardoth said as he turned and started walking once more to leave the Gundam behind him.

Leo raised his head to watch as the other knight walked away from them, and remembered how it was Estardoth that was there when he woke up with no memory of his past. As hard as he tried to recall anything from it the more pain it caused his mind, and left other to conclude that whatever had happened to him was traumatic enough that his mind either erased it or blocked it completely. Estardoth, a royal knight of Estar, trained him to become one of its defenders as he was slowly remodeled by the Princess herself. His deadly and powerful projectile weapons were stripped from his body and replaced with composite armors composed of iron and other earthly metals. As he was being remodeled, a strange sensation overcame him and he awakened fully as eyes formed in his optics and he was placed as the defender of the princess, her loyal bodyguard and knight.

Leo could not shake the feeling of dread as he saw his mentor vanish around a corner, leaving him alone in the empty corridor. He turned away from the ivory warrior and let the wheels in the bottom of his feet to drop down as he activated hover jets and thrusters in his legs to propel himself along. Leo skated across the stone floors of the palace and up a series of stairs as he dodged others that walked the halls. He made his way quickly to the private chambers of his young princess and knocked on the door softly to see if she was in there.

"Come in." A young girl's voice replied, and Leo pushed the door open slowly to see that the princess was seated at her window seat and leaned out past the sill to watch the birds as they flew away.

"Princess Mana! Please be careful not to lean out too far out the window. I am not a flight type, so I would not be suited to rescue you from such heights." Leo said as he looked at the young girl with matching blue eyes.

"Okay Kitty." The nine year old princess smiled as she hopped off of her window seat and ran to the Gundam, her light blue dress flowed out behind her as her short rusty colored hair bobbed.

The princess wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him, and left the Gundam wondering how she could not have knocked herself out after nearly tackling him.

"Princess, I am not a cat." Leo said as he looked at the girl and felt his cheeks flush lightly.

The blue eyed girl blinked as she looked at him in confusion, "But you are named a Leopard Gundam, and leopards are big kitties."

Leo sighed as he nodded, "Yes I am a Leopard, and leopards are big cats, but that does not mean that I am a kitty."

"Okay Leo." Princess Mana smiled as she called him by another name she had given to him. "What are we going to do today Knight Leo?"

"For the moment I think that it would be safer to remain in your room, your highness." Leo replied as he looked at the girl and saw the disappointment on her face.

"But I was hoping to go check on the progress of the upgrades being done to some of the Pyron's." Mana whimpered as she looked at her defender, "Can we at least go watch, please Leo?"

He looked into the princess' eyes as they started to tear up and let out a sigh, "As you wish your highness. But remember that you are not allowed to take part in installing the upgrades. Your father was very upset that you repainted several of the Pyron Soldiers."

"But they looked much prettier with rainbow colors." Mana giggled as she ran behind the Gundam and pounced him, and hung from his back. "Carry me, please my Gundamie."

Leo let out a small whine as the girl clung to him and called him by another of her names for him. "Yes your highness, but please do not let go this time, I do not wish for you to injure yourself."

"Don't worry, I won't let go of you my Kitty." Princess Mana smiled as the Gundam skated from her room and she hugged him happily.

* * *

A robot with mostly white armor with lavender accents floated over the scene of the latest conquest of her lord and master. The single pink optic of the golden sword wielding robot flashed for a moment as it looked at the dark grey and black robots that made up the army of the prince. Each of the soldiers equipped with a visor that made it look as if the wore a pair of goggles. She landed gently on the stone ground and heard it crunch under her feet, the stone once a lush grassy plain that led to a city that now stood in ruins by the might of the robotic army.

"There is nothing left." The Knightress said as she looked at the town, the people frozen like statues and the robotic defenders reduced to scrap metal. "I thought that at least we would have had some challenge here, being so close to the palace."

"There is nothing that can challenge us, or you for that matter Bertigo." The young teenage boy behind her stated as he walked up beside her, dressed in a grey uniform with a blue overcoat. "As long as you lead my armies, nothing can stop us."

"Yes, of course, Prince Carris." The Knightress said as she knelt before the human. "All shall fall before the might of your army, my highness."

Prince Carris smiled as he looked at the town, dark circles under his once vibrant blue eyes. "We shall bring ever lasting peace to this world once we have swept away the old world. Then once the fighting is over, they shall hail me as their king and savor, and you as their hero."

"Yes sire." Bertigo nodded in agreement as she felt a sudden stab of sadness by the change in the teen's behavior, and yet a thrill ran through her at taking part in battle, an enjoyment that filled a dark part of her soul.

"This is all thanks to you my loyal Bertigo, and of course our new allies." Carris continued and chuckled as he lifted his hand to call up a swarm of small robotic insects that appeared attracted by a red ring on his finger. "Yes, with you and our little friends here, we are unstoppable. All shall fall before my armies, and we shall bring peace to this troubled and broken world."

Bertigo looked at the strange swarm of insects that had turned the people and other living organisms into stone. Some of them were green and called "BaguBagu" by the one that gave them to the prince, and the others were an odd blue color with more elongated bodies and smaller legs that were named "Espers". She watched as they flew around her prince, the strange beings not harming them at all, and seemed to be at his total command. One of the small green bugs landed on the tip of the prince's finger and wagged its wings as he brought it close to his face with a smile, then extended his hand out to send the swarm out to join his army once more.

"I think that it is time that we moved on. They are bound to bring their grand army out to face us now that we are this close." Prince Carris smiled wickedly, a smile that sent a chill down Bertigo's spine, but she did not care as long as she got a chance to fight. "You wouldn't want to miss out on that, now would you my lovely Bertigo?"

"No my highness, I shall savor every moment of battle that brings peace to this world." Bertigo replied as she stood up and flew to the front of the army.

She lowered her head as her single optic dimmed lightly, "Maybe… maybe once this war is over. Then his highness will smile like he use to. I must do my best so that he will be happy again. This is for Prince Carris' sake. And for him, I will destroy anyone that stands in the path of what he wants."

"It looks like everything is going just as you hoped." A dark crimson form said as it stepped out of the shadows of the petrified trees, its black chest decorated with a pair of what looked like golden eyes that gave the form a sinister appearance.

Prince Carris turned to look at the robot as it came closer, its shoulders armor very large and slotted, and its red arms bore a pair of golden claws. The green optics of the machine glowed as it stepped closer to him and returned his gaze with a pair of violet eyes. The human stood his ground as he looked into the dark face of the robot, the machine not intimidated by him at all.

"How long have you been here Lord Virsago, lurking the in the shadows once more?" The prince accused the robot as it looked back at him coldly.

"I have been observing the progress that you have been making, and I am very impressed at how you are using the gifts that I have given you." The robot replied as it walked past the human and watched the army advance forward.

"I would have been able to do this with out your help Lord Virsago, but the insects that you have given me have helped a great deal in clearing out any resistance that might have formed." Carris smiled as he climbed onto a chariot drawn by a pair of robotic horses.

"But you did accept the power and the help that I have given you, did you not Prince Carris?" Virsago asked knowingly as he eyed the human and followed him with his dark wings, "Just remember that when the time comes, you will have to pay the price for these gifts."

"I have not forgotten." Carris snarled for a moment and then smiled, "Once I am king, I shall grant you whatever you wish for the service that you have done for me Lord Virsago. But you will not get anything unless we are victorious. That was our arrangement."

"Indeed it was, and at the rate in which you are proceeding, it should not be long before you are king." Virsago smiled behind his dark facemask, "I shall come to you on that day to collect what you owe me, but remember my prince that the price for this power is great."

Carris watched as the crimson armored robot faded back into the distance and seemed to vanish in the mist. "What a strange robot… I don't know how he could have earned the title that he did, but no matter. Once I am king he shall have whatever he wants, there will be nothing that I can't do and no price to great for me then."

Virsago watched from a distance as the prince rode with his army toward the palace and smiled, "That is what you think my prince… All is going according to plan, and soon you will find the price for this new power of yours."

A pair of blue eyes looked out from the top of the tallest tower of the palace, and watched as the grand army of the Kingdom of Estar is led out to do battle with the approaching army. The owner of the pair of eyes closed them sadly as she rested her hands on her chest. Her white and blue royal gown billowed slightly with the light breeze that caused the flags of the proud nation to fly. The same vision she had before filled her mind as she saw a knights lance stabbed into what looked like water turned to stone, and a battle torn flag clung to the weapon as smoke rose slowly from all around it. Tears ran from her eyes as she kept them closed and knew that the peaceful era that had fallen onto the kingdom were close to an end.

Her vision shifted to show the skies over the palace and the distant moon as it hung like a silver giant in the night sky. The clashing of weapons around the palace sounded along with the cries and vision of a damaged Gundam and her daughter. As she tried to focus more on the vision, a beam of light came down from the moon to strike a distant point on the horizon to the east, a light from her memories. Her eyes flew open quickly as she realized what it was that she saw and felt her body trembling with fear as well as hope.

"Gundam…" She said softly as she turned her head to look at the moon.

"Your highness?" A voice said behind her and caused the woman to turn around fully to look at the knight that stood there with her daughter.

For a moment she saw a different robot before her, one with green armor and loaded down with weapons of a past age that stood beside a younger version of herself and had her own eyes in his optics. The image shifted slowly to the knight Gundam that stood before her with her daughter at his side, the robot stared at her with concern.

"Are you alright Queen Toniya? Should I summon a doctor for you?" Leo asked as he looked at the woman.

The queen shook her head slowly as she smiled, "No. That is alright Leo, I am fine. Just a little dizzy is all, and I didn't expect anyone else to be up here but me."

"I apologize, your highness, but the Princess insisted on seeing you." Leo said as he looked at Mana.

"She did?" Queen Toniya looked at her daughter puzzled, "Now why did you make Sir Leo come all the way up here my dear Mana?"

The girl blushed as she hugged her stuffed snow leopard, "I just got this bad feeling in my stomach, and I thought that something was wrong. Something bad is going to happen isn't it mommy?"

The queen looked at her daughter in shock for a moment before she smiled, amazed at how perceptive the young girl was, and how far along her abilities were. "It's alright Mana, you are going to be perfectly safe with Leo. He is your defender, and shall protect you no matter what."

"I know mommy, but I still have this bad feeling that makes my stomach hurt." Mana replied as she looked up at her mother.

Toniya smiled as she knelt down and hugged her daughter, "Don't worry Mana, everything is going to be fine. Have you been having nightmares as well?"

The young girl nodded slowly, "I saw something terrible when I had my nap in one of my dreams. Big brother was in it, and so was an evil looking robot that looked like a Gundam, but he had purple eyes."

"Purple eyes…" Toniya stared at Mana for a moment before she hugged the girl once more, "Everything will be alright Mana… right now I want you to go with Leo to the Rosa Rose, and get it ready for launch."

"Are we going someplace mommy?" Mana asked as she looked at her mother, puzzled by the request.

"Yes, you are going to go someplace with Leopard. But don't worry about anything my little kitten, you are going to come home again." The queen said as she ran her fingers through the short rusty red hair of her daughter. "There will be a light from the moon that will point you in the way you should go, and I want you to look for a Gundam that carries a large cannon on his back."

"Another Gundam?" Leo said as he looked at Queen Toniya, "What makes you think that we will find another one at the place that a beam of moon light will be pointing towards?"

Toniya smiled as she looked at the knight and rested a hand on his shoulder, "Leo, brave knight of Estar, please do this for your Queen and for Princess Mana. You will understand everything once you reach the place that I have told you. Now I want you to go and help Princess Mana get the ship ready for departure, and leave when you are ready. Do you understand?"

"Your highness?" Leo stared at the human confused for a moment before he nodded, "If that is what you wish your highness, then I shall do so."

"Thank you Leo." Toniya smiled, "You have the name of a great warrior, but don't let that or other things distract you from the task that you have at hand. When you return here with the other Gundam, there will be something waiting for you that shall help you in the days ahead. Till then you have to keep Princess Mana safe."

"I shall do so with my life, my Queen." Leo replied as he bowed to the woman.

* * *

Prince Carris smiled as he looked at head of his army, the cool grey armor of his Juracg soldiers seemed to blend into the surroundings left in the wake of the insect army. Before him stood the capital of the kingdom of Estar and the royal palace and in front of it was the grand army of the kingdom, comprised of both human and robotic soldiers. The highest ranked knight of the kingdom stood at the head of the army and held a large metal lance in one hand as well as a pole that bore the flag of the kingdom. Carris chuckled inwardly as he looked the opposing army over, the Pyron's armed with swords and shields as well as crossbow guns that could fire bolts quickly.

"It looks like I was right about who would come out to meet us, Bertigo." Carris smiled as he looked down at the white and lavender robot that stood next to him in his chariot. "I told you that this next battle would be an interesting one, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did Prince Carris." Bertigo nodded as she eyed Estardoth, "What would you like me to do your highness?"

"We are going to do exactly what we have been doing. We are going to crush them and then take the palace." Carris said as he raised his hand and the swarm of insect robots swarmed around him to form a large form with a glowing red eye that resembled the green ones. "Now, my little friends. Go forth and show them what you can do!"

Carris pointed his hand forward and the ring on his finger glowed for a moment before the insects flew toward the opposing army. The robots raised their shields and expected to block the swarm as if they were a horde of arrows only to watch in dismay as they flew past them and attached the human knights and soldiers that made up their army. A strange red stinger came out of the insect's mouths and stabbed into the humans to turn them into stone, all of them captured in different poses that looked like well carved statues. The Pyron's panicked as they ran around their human counterparts, unsure what to do and swung their swords in an effort to try and protect those that were left only to fail as the last human in the army was petrified.

Estardoth growled as he looked around him and grasped his lance firmly, "Regroup and reform the ranks men! The twelfth division is to get these people out of here now! Tenth division to the front with shields as the ready, and archers form behind them! Prepare to fire at my command!"

The groups of Pyron's ran quickly to carry out their orders, as one group moved the petrified humans to safety the other reformed the lines of battle and got ready for the attack of the now greatly out numbering army of Prince Carris. The Junacg soldiers marched forward in a similar formation as their own, and opened fire with their crossbow guns at the same time that Estardoth shouted to fire. Clouds of bolts flew through the air to strike the shields of the two armies, many of them stopped by the shields but a few made their way past to strike the robots on the other side and sank deep into their armor. Some of the robots on both sides fell quickly as the deadly bolts continued to rain down upon them.

The two walls of armor met finally and meshed together as the robots engaged one another in hand to hand combat, their swords sung out as they struck one another and cut into their armor. Estardoth grunted as he knocked aside waves of Junacg soldiers with his lance, their attacks hardly dented his armor as he slowly made his way forward. The noble knight of Estar glared at Prince Carris as he made his way across the battlefield towards the prince and sought to end the fighting once and for all. One of the Junacg soldiers ran quickly up to him from behind and stabbed him as hard as he could with his sword, the point only scratched the surface of the thick armor of the knight as he turned around and snapped the blade with a single blow before he dispatched the soldier with his lance.

"Prince Carris! This ends now! Call off your armies at once!" Estardoth ordered as he pointed his lance at the prince.

"End this? Why should I when I am so close to winning." Prince Carris smiled wickedly as he snapped his fingers and a flash of white armor appeared above him.

Estardoth raised his lance in time and blocked the heavy golden sword that swung down at him, he growled as he looked at its owner. "Bertigo."

"It is nice to see you once again as well, Estardoth." Bertigo said as she smiled behind her facemask and pushed back against the heavily armored knight. "Order your men to lay down your weapons and I might be able to persuade his highness Prince Carris to allow you and them to live."

"I could say the same to you." Estardoth grunted as he held his lance tighter, and pushed back and broke the lock between their weapons by jumping back. "Why have you turned against King Willis?"

"My loyalty is to the future king, Prince Carris, and you know that old man." Bertigo shouted as she flew forward and slashed at Estardoth. "I shall do whatever I can for him to make his dreams a reality!"

A flurry of sparks erupted as the sword met Estardoth's lance and the large knight held his ground as he shoved Bertigo back before charging at her. "Your loyalty should be to this kingdom Bertigo! To protect it from such things as what Prince Carris is doing to it, he is destroying this land!"

"You're wrong!" Bertigo cried out as she swung her sword once more and met the lance of the noble knight, each blow of their weapons sent sparks flying off. "Prince Carris will bring peace to this land! We just have to remove the old kingdom and those that would cause more war, people like you!"

"Do you seriously believe that?" Estardoth asked as he parried the attacks of the younger knight. "Look at all that he has done! He's turned the people and everything in this kingdom into stone. How can you possibly thinks that this will make things better then the way that they were?"

"If this is what Prince Carris wishes, then I must follow his orders." The female knight replied as she locked her weapon with Estardoth once more. "That is what you taught me, isn't it Estardoth? That I must follow the orders and wishes of those that I serve, and I was placed in the service of Prince Carris. I will do whatever I must to make his dreams a reality, even if it means destroying this kingdom and you along with it!"

Estardoth grunted as he felt himself lose ground to the younger warrior as she pushed against him with more strength then he knew that she had in her. She quickly took advantage of the moment as she preformed a flip kick that knocked his lance out of his hand, and sent it spiraling away to stab into the petrified water of a small pond. He recovered as quickly as he could and caught the arm of Bertigo as she attempted to bring her sword down upon him. Estardoth caught her other hand as she tried to attack him with it, and held her in place as they tested their strength against one another.

"If you make it past me, what will you do next Bertigo?" Estardoth asked, and his hand sparked as she squeezed it harder. "You know that Leo is at the palace, and that he is sworn to protect Princess Mana. If you do intend to take over this kingdom, and remove all those that are a danger to the peace that he wants, then you will have to remove her. That will make you an enemy of Leo, are you willing to do that?"

"Leo…" Bertigo said as she stared at Estardoth as if the name had double meaning to her.

"Yes, Leo. Don't tell me that you have forgotten him already." Estardoth said, "Neither of you had any memories of your past when I discovered you and him laying close to one another in the ruins of that city. I raised you both, and taught you how to fight, I treated you both as brother and sister. So tell me Bertigo, can you destroy your own brother?"

"N-no…" Bertigo lowered her head as she shook it and struggled with a demon inside of her.

"BERTIGO!" Carris shouted, his voice snapped the Knightress back to the battle before her.

She jumped back quickly as she broke the hold she had with Estardoth and floated up into the air, her body glowed along with Prince Carris. Bertigo raised her arms till they locked into place with her shoulder armor and crossed her legs to form a large Y as the dark slits in her chest armor glowed brightly. As the glow faded, a single golden optic appeared as twelve objects appeared from within her armor to surround her body. The strange light caused the Pyron and Junacg soldiers to stop fighting and look at the Knightress in confusion. Bertigo staggered back as he stared up at his former student and the young prince, a realization came to him as he stared at them both.

"I'm sorry…" Bertigo said softly as the small objects around her darted off to do her bidding.

"I'm sorry…"

Leo looked up quickly as he heard a familiar voice and saw that the only ones around him were a group of Pyron soldiers that were assigned to the Rosa Rose. The pink colored vessel converted from a purely land battle ship into one that could travel on both land and water with its powerful hover engines. A single gun turret had been mounted close to the bridge of the long sleek ship, and smaller weapons ports were built in so that the crew could defend it if it came under attack. The large forward and aft openings of the engines were lined with golden fins to duct the air into them. Leopard wheels himself quickly into the large launch bay located in the rear of the ship and to the elevator that would take him up a few levels as he made his way to the bridge.

Leo stepped onto the bridge to find the young princess seated in the captains seat, the young human hugged her stuffed snow leopard tightly as she looked at him. "Are you alright Princess Mana?"

"Kitty… my tummy hurts." Mana whined as she looked at him, "Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?"

"I don't know your highness, but I think that we should finish loading the Rosa Rose as quickly as possible." He replied as he tried to make the girl feel better by distracting her with other duties. "Please continue on without me Princess, I feel that I must check on something. I promise you that I shall return before it is time for us to launch."

"Okay… but don't take too long Leo." Mana said as she watched him leave and hugged her large plush toy tighter.

Leo lowered his head in thought, the princess never called him by his true name unless something had deeply troubled her. He looked as he made his way quickly out of the ship and up the stairs that lead up from the underground harbor the ship was birthed in and up stood in the palace court yard. He stood there in shock for a moment as he saw the Pyron and human soldiers running around quickly and took up positions along the walls to fire down at something behind the palace walls below. Leo ran quickly up the stairs to one of the walls that over looked the palace gates and saw the large army of the rouge prince as they slammed a battering ram against the door. He ducked as a swarm of insects flew toward him, the strange bugs left him alone in confusion as he stood back up.

A scream drew his attention away as he turned and saw the true targets of the insects, the human defenders of the palace. Each one of the humans quickly turned to stone under the bite of the strange bugs. Leo growled as he felt helpless before the swarm of insects, his moment of weakness passed quickly as he felt an explosion below him and looked down to see the doors of the palace blown open. The Gundam roared like a beast as he leapt down, drawing a weapon from a metal container on his hip, a small ball quickly expanded as it was connected to a chain of red energy to a handle in his hand.

Leo spun his ball mace around quickly in his hands to form a shield that blocked the bolts fired from the Junacg soldiers that ran through the gates. "I'm not going to make this easy for you!"

The knight threw his weapon forward at the energy chain extended as the mace flew forward and knocked several dozen of the small Junacg soldiers into the air as if they were bowling pins. Leo rushed forward as he snapped his wrist back and recalled his weapon to use as a boxing glove and smash one of the other enemy soldiers in the chest. He tossed the handle out to strike another in the face to knock him out. The Gundam swung his weapon around him as he screamed out and terrified the army of the prince with the roar that resounded through the palace.

"Excellent work. This is just what I expected from someone named Gundam." Leo heard the voice of the Prince and looked up to see Carris as the boy smiled at him from his chariot.

"Prince Carris." Leo said as he stared the young teenager down, "I don't know why you are doing this. But I can't let you continue this madness!"

"Madness?" The lips of Carris curled into a cruel smile, "This is not madness my Gundam friend, this is destiny."

"Whatever you want to call it, I can't allow you to do this." Leo replied as he started to spin his mace at his side. "I am going to end this, right here and right now!"

"It's funny that you say that, those words are so similar to someone else." Carris smiled as he tossed a broken and battered ivory helmet before the Gundam's feet. "As you can see, he didn't like my answer, so I had him silenced."

"Es-Estardoth." Leo stared at the helmet in shock as his weapon fell to his side with a loud bang, "You destroyed him!"

"Oh, I would love to take sole credit for that, but I was not the one that did that." Carris smiled more wickedly, "I am sure that you remember Bertigo."

Leo jumped back quickly as he saw a flash of light, and barely avoided the deadly blade of the Knightress as it sliced into the ground where he once stood. He raised the energy chain quickly and caught the sword as Bertigo came at him for another attack, the metal sparked against the chain as they glared at one another.

"I'm the one that defeated Estardoth, and in the name of Prince Carris, I shall defeat you as well Leo!" Bertigo said as she jumped back swiftly and then rushed forward again with her sword ready for battle.

"You can try your best Bertigo! But I will not fall to you!" Leo shouted as he quickly activated the hover jets and wheels in his feet, and dodged the attack. "SHINING HAMMER!"

The spiked metal ball glowed red as the Gundam tossed it at the white Knightress and forced her to block the attack with her sword. The impact alone drove her back a few feet as the weapon of the Gundam continued to push against her blade. Bertigo hissed as she tossed the heavy mace away and rushed forward once more at Leopard only to see the red energy chain as it whipped up quickly at her. She flipped quickly into the air as the energy chain scrapped against her armor and the mace narrowly missed her head as she landed, forced to duck down under the attack.

"So, this is the special technique of the Iron Knight?" Bertigo said as she took to the air and flew around Leo as she slashed at him with her sword. "If that is all that you have Leo, then you will not survive past today!"

"We'll see who survives this day Bertigo!" Leo shouted as he blocked the attacks of the Knightress with his ball mace and energy chain. "I will avenge Estardoth! He was like a father to us both, now could you have destroyed him!"

"Wha-?" Leo looked at Bertigo confused as he kept a tight hold on her sword with his chain, "Brother?"

"I don't care what Estardoth said, you are not my brother!" Bertigo shouted as she let go of her sword and jumped back into the air, her arms snapped quickly up as she started to glow with a strange energy. "I have no one! No brother, no father! Only Prince Carris! You are not my brother, how can you be!"

The twelve strange objects emerged once more from the flying robots armor and swarmed around her as they glowed with energy. The violet funnels shot out quickly and fired at Leo from several different angles so that he couldn't block them. The beams of energy cut into his composite armor quickly as he cried out in pain. The blasts of energy tore off the weaker parts of armor as they continued to fire down on him. Leo fell to one knee as the attack subsided and looked up at Bertigo as his body sparked from the damage that she had done with her attack, puzzled as to how she could have such a power.

"I'm sorry Leo, but this is where you are destroyed." Bertigo said as she looked down at him with a tormented gaze.

"That's it Bertigo! Destroy him now and the palace shall be ours!" Carris shouted as his body glowed slightly with the same energy that wrapped around the white Knightress.

Leo shut his eyes for a moment as he struggled to stand up and gripped his weapon tightly, determined that if he had to meet his end, he would do so on his feet. A flash ran through his mind as he turned his head suddenly to the doorway that led down to the harbor, and saw the princess as she stood there and looked at him in horror. His eyes widened as he saw the swarm of insects head toward her and broke into a brisk run as he pushed his body to its limit. Time felt as if it were slowed down as he moved as fast as he could and heard the hum of the beam weapons of Bertigo and the buzz of the insects as they raced toward the young human girl.

"PRINCESS MANA!" Leo shouted as he tossed his weapon at the insects, and the weapons of Bertigo fired behind him.

Mana stood there and stared at Carris as she shook with fear, "B-big brother…"

The wall behind the princess exploded into a large cloud of dust that enveloped her and the Gundam quickly from sight, and the heavy stones that made up the arch above the door fell down to block the passage. Bertigo hovered in the air as she stared at the debris for a moment, her sensors picked up nothing of the princess or Leopard as she studied it for signs of them. She turned around slowly to face her prince and looked at the boy in shock as she saw the expression on his face. Carris looked at the pile of debris in shock for a moment before he screamed out in pain and gripped the sides of his head as if someone had stabbed his brain. Bertigo rushed quickly to the side of the prince and caught him as he fell back off of the chariot.

"Prince Carris!" Bertigo shouted as she held onto the human and looked down at him as he breathed in and out quickly between screams of terror and pain. "Prince Carris! Please sire! Please, snap out of it! What is wrong? Please, tell me!"

"It seems that your young prince was not as ready as he thought he would be." A sinister voice chuckled and drew Bertigo's attention. "I told him that he price for his powers would be great, but he foolishly thought that he could afford it."

"Lord Virsago, what has happened to Prince Carris!?" Bertigo shouted as she demanded an answer from the red robot. "Don't give me any cryptic answers, I want to know what you did to him!"

"I have done only what he had asked me to do." Virsago said as he stepped forward and the soldiers of the army that belonged to the prince bowed to him willingly. "I gave him the ability to become what he wished, and now he is paying the price for what he desired. But you need not worry Bertigo, he will survive, he just pushed his powers to hard for too long. He shall recover, and make a fine soldier in my new kingdom."

Bertigo stared at the vile robot as she held the prince close, the teenage boy having passed out from the torture that took place in his mind. "Y-your kingdom."

"Yes." Virsago smiled as his green optics glowed brightly in the darkness of his face. "My, kingdom."

Leo set Mana down gently into the captain's chair on the bridge of the Rosa Rose, the girl knocked out from the impact of him tackling her to safety. He limped over as fast as he could to the controls of the ship, his body sparked from all of his damage as he activated the ships computer system and artificial intelligence. The large gates to the underground harbor opened slowly as the ship sailed out of them as quickly as it could, and left the palace behind them. Leo panted as he coughed and looked at the moon, his eyes widened as he saw a beam of light come down to point at the distant horizon and he quickly brought up another control panel.

"Rose, can you plot the point that the beam from the moon is pointing to?" The Gundam asked the ships artificial intelligence.

"I can indeed Sir Leo, would you like me to plot a course to the destination?" The ship replied as Leopard staggered back and fell into one of the pilot's chairs.

"Yes… thank you Rose. You have the controls…" Leo said as his optics faded off, his body shut down so that his auto repair systems could repair some of the critical damage to his systems.


	4. Chapter 4

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Four**

**  
**_**"Samurai Soul"**_

The brown eyes of the Gundam opened in a flash as pain surged through his body; his internal sensors filled his vision with the damage report from his body and the rise in temperature. The mainly red and white Gundam transformed quickly, an armored cover on his back snapped forward over his head to cover it as the side panels that covered his shoulders snapped quickly into place to form wings. His lower body twisted around as his legs bent at the knee and lifted part of his short armored skirt to give him the sleek appearance of a fighter jet. He rolled onto his back quickly as to ride the shockwave of his reentry into the atmosphere of the blue and green planet below him, already caught in its gravity well and being dragged in against his will. He clung to the cold black scabbard that covered the ancient samurai sword tightly as he felt a deep pang of guilt and sorrow rush through him at the loss of its owner.

The Gundam became aware of something else close to him and looked at a display screen inside the cockpit like extension that covered his head. The display from his sensors showed a large colony burning through the atmosphere close to him, his advanced mind calculated quickly where it would hit based on its trajectory and felt a horrible sickness at its target. An island nation in the largest ocean of the planet Gaia, the very same island the homeland of his friend, and the owner of the sword he now held firmly. It took only a split second for him to decide what to do as he activated his thrusters and flew into the space colony; he transformed into his robotic form quickly as he slammed into the surface and pushed as hard as he could against the mass of metal and glass. He pushed as hard as he could against it with the knowledge that a small change now would cause it to miss its target and save the lives of millions on the surface of the planet, if only he could move it just a small amount with his thrusters and his will.

The slab of metal that he held onto creaked under the strain he put it under, and slowly the colony started to move as he had hoped. The Gundam continued to push against the massive colony with all his might, ignoring the warning lights that filled his optics of the damage to his body. The composite lunar titanium armor of the mechanical warrior's body glowed hot with the friction against the atmosphere, and parts melted away completely from him to sail off with other debris from the colony. The metal that he clung to finally peel away and caused him to spiral away from the colony. The Gundam held onto the piece of torn metal and moved it before him as a shield, the alarms of his sensors slowly quieted down, save one that alerted him that his transformation system was damaged beyond repair.

As he cleared the upper limits of the atmosphere he looked below him to see lights dancing in the night sky, the tell tail sign of a battle raging below him. The green background of his optics flashed as his brown eyes focused on what was ahead of him, his keen eyes picking out targets amidst the heavy fighting. He growled as he saw only a small group of transport Gaia Force transport planes, escorting civilian aircraft, under attack by more agile and better equipped robots of the Dark Cirrus. The Gundam tossed his makeshift shield down to snag on his feet, allowing him to surf the shockwave of his reentry and free his hands. He grabbed hold of the only weapon he had with him, the sword that belonged to his teacher and friend, and glared at the other machines.

"You cowards want to pick on innocent civilians! Hasn't there been enough death already today?!" The Gundam shouted as loudly as he could as he drew the sword and jumped off of the metal plate.

The Dark Cirrus robots jumped back in shock as one of their red armored comrades was taken out by the piece of metal and they heard the cries of the Gundam. The twenty some red robots with large beefy looking legs turned with their finned thrusters to face the new machine, beam and machine guns blazing. The lone Gundam continued down his apparent suicide path as he swung the sword around to smack several of the bullets out of the air and the beams from the rifles caused the blade to glow brightly. The aerial designed Gundam flashed past a group of six robots quickly before he skidded to a stop in mid-air with his thrusters, the sword held out from his body in his right hand and his head bent low to hide his eyes. As if on cue, the weapons and hands of the six robots explode or fall off of their bodies as he raised his head to look at the others.

"That's enough!" The Gundam shouted, "If you persist in fighting, then I will have no choice but to destroy you. Lay down your weapons at once! There has been enough killing today."

The Dark Cirrus robots look at one another for a moment as their disarmed comrades flailed their damaged arms, and growled for vengeance. They ignored the plea from the Gundam as they raised their weapons once more and took aim at him once more. The lone warrior's brown eyes changed slightly as he felts something similar to the burning sensation from his reentry surge through him, and the hidden orb in his chest glowed bright enough to light up the night sky. The Gundam grabbed onto the sword with both hands as he held it out in front of him, and felt a strange but familiar power surge through his body. He rushed forward quickly as he let out a cry as the colony finally struck its new target in the ocean. The deafening roar could be heard over the fighting as a massive wave of water into the air, as if a dragon had finally awakened from his long slumber…

_In the wake of the war between the Dark Cirrus and the Gaia Force, the survivors on Gaia had to find a way to survive in the new world created in the wake of the colony drop. They formed new nations and governments to fill the gap left by the destroyed Gaia government. An island nation, abandoned by humans was left in the hands of machines that either were left or found their way to its shores. The new rulers of the land set aside the weapons of their generation and adopted newer older weapons to replace them, and to the surprise of others it resulted in a long standing peace. But true peace can not be had just by surrendering weapons…_

"Airmaster?"

The Gundam slowly activated his optics and raised his head from his meditative state, having fallen asleep once more in his small sanctuary atop the large dojo.

"Airmaster?"

The brown eyed Gundam sighed as he remained seated on a thin cushion on the floor before a small shrine he had built. "Enter."

The rice paper and wooden door slid open slowly as a young robotic sat and bowed its helmet less head as low as it could, dark black ridges that looked like slicked back hair sat on its head and reflected the light from the open set of double doors that allowed the rays of the morning sun to fill the room. A light blue silk kimono adorned the robot as it remained still, and almost seemed unable to move.

"Airmaster, I am sorry to disturb you like this, but I thought that you would like to know that there is a visitor to see you." The robot said in an obvious female voice, and sounded like a young teenager of almost fifteen years of age. "I took them to the garden, and had them checked for weapons, but… They refused to let me disarm them, and said that will only do so for you."

"I see, thank you Burst." The Gundam replied as he stood up, his armor removed from his body and replaced instead with a black kimono under a white kataginu with a pair of golden dragons that ran parallel with one another on the front of his shoulders, as if racing each other, with a shattered star that seemed to burst between them. His lower body was covered with a red hakama, and a black belt around his waist, where he slid a short sword into in place as he turned to face the other robot. "I shall see this visitor myself and let them know of the rules of this dojo, and this land. We can't have someone breaking them now can we?"

"No. Of course not, Airmaster." The younger robot, Burst, said as she kept her head lowered.

Airmaster stared at the girl for a moment before his brown eyed display changed to a dark line with a half circle hung between them. "Burst, it is good that you practice such strictness to the teachings that I have taught you, but when we are in private like this you can be less formal."

"Y-yes, Airmaster." The younger robot replied as she stood up slowly and looked at him with vacant green optics.

Airmaster smiled as he looked at her, "You are an amazing treasure to me Burst, you are the only other Airmaster unit that I have found, and it is a wonder that you can even exist as you are with such free will and consciousness. Normally you would need a soul drive to be like you are, that just proves how special you are, my dear daughter."

"Y-yes father, thank you." Burst blushed lightly as she looked down.

"Now let us go and meet with this visitor." Airmaster said, "I want you to wait in the shadows just incase something were to happen. You are one of the better fighters here, and if this guest does mean ill intent toward us, then I would like to have you at my side to drive them away."

"As you wish father, I shall accompany you." Burst smiled behind her facemask as she nodded and started to follow the older Gundam out of the room.

She paused for a moment to look behind her at the shrine that Airmaster had been seated before, a picture young human boy in a green uniform was framed with a golden dragon as a large sword sat before it on a stand. The steps leading up to the picture were covered with white and red candles that kept burning with the care of the elder Gundam, the person in the picture of great importance to her father. Burst turned back around and walked quickly to catch up to the older Airmaster after she shut the door to his private room, and walked with him down the halls of the dojo. The sound of the other students and residents filled the crisp morning air, robots from both sides of the prior conflict had gathered and were stripped of weapons and armor to wear the garments that Airmaster had picked for them. All of them gave up the old ways of combat in order to learn from him a new style of fighting that was based solely on winning without injuring the other person and using their own power against them.

In some of the other rooms of the dojo, the sounds of wooden swords slapping against on another rang out as other students of the Gundam practiced their swordsmanship. Many of the students had never handled a sword before now and had instead relied on their machine guns and beam guns for defense. Burst paused as they neared the garden of the dojo and watched the older Gundam as he walked toward the dark heavily armored robot, the visitor unnerved her when she greeted it, and she felt more comfortable at this distance. She kept a close watch on her master as Airmaster approached the figure, the older Gundam seeming calm, but she knew that he was ready to spring into action if needed.

"I was told that you wanted to see me." Airmaster said as he stopped a fair distance from his strange visitor who stood with their back toward him.

The large black armored shell with red pylons turned around slowly to show its true form, a darkly armored robot with two small narrow gold vents on its chest. The armored shell proved to be a backpack attached to the robot that easily eclipsed it from anyone that saw it from behind. But what struck Airmaster the most was the face of the robot, an armored head and face mask that told exactly what type of robot it was that stood before him. The other robots green optics flash for a moment as they come online and a pair of ruby red eyes form in them to stare back at him.

"A Gundam!" Airmaster said finally, amazed to see the other Gundam, even if it was a strange looking one.

"My name is Ashtaron." The black Gundam said, its voice that of a woman's, with a soft refined tone to it. "I have come a very long way to meet with you, Sensei Airmaster."

"Please, forgive me. I have not seen another Gundam other then my student Burst, let alone one that looked the way you do." Airmaster explained quickly as he noticed the female Gundam staring at him.

Ashtaron seemed to smile as she posed for Airmaster, "I was designed and activated shortly before the end of the war, so I did not get to see combat. My transport was shot down and I was the only survivor, so I roamed for years to find my place in this world. It was in my travels that I heard of you and your teachings, and I thought that I should come meet with you. I would very much like to learn the knowledge that you have Sensei Airmaster. Please, allow me to become one of your students."

Airmaster stared at the Gundam for a moment, "Are you sure that you can live by my teachings?"

"Yes, I am sure that I can." Ashtaron nodded, "I have already surrendered my beam crossbow in an effort to begin my transition."

"Then why do you still have that backpack?" Airmaster asked, as he looked the heavily armored shell over.

"I-it's not just a backpack, it is a part of me." Ashtaron blushed. "I can't simply remove it."

"Oh?" Airmaster looked at her skeptically, and wondered what she meant.

"Please, allow me to show you." Ashtaron said as she took a step back and made sure that she had enough space between her and Airmaster.

She jumped up into the air and bent forward as the armored backpack seemed to wrap around her. Her arms tucked in close to her body along with her legs as a pair of large clawed arms appeared from her backpack. Ashtaron hovered in the air as a red optic appeared in a slit on the front of the armored covering. She flew around Airmaster slowly to allow him to get a view of her transformation before she changed back and landed before him once more in her robotic form, and posed for him once more.

"I see, so you can transform similar to what Burst and myself can. That is very interesting." Airmaster nodded as he looked at the black Gundam. "I think that you will make a fine student here, Ashtaron. As long as you are willing to learn what I have to teach you, you are welcome here as a fellow Gundam."

"Thank you Sensei Airmaster, sir." Ashtaron bowed, "And please, call me Ash."

Burst stared at the strange new Gundam from behind the corner of the east entrance to the garden, her green optics dimmed a bit as she kept looking at the darkly armored Ashtaron. A chill ran down Burst's spine as she saw the other Gundam turn its head away from Airmaster to look in her direction, the red eyes seemed to glare at her, stabbing into her like daggers. She took a few steps back and turned around to press her against the wall as she shivered all over, a deep fear overtook her mind for a moment as she stood there. Burst calmed herself using the practices that Airmaster had taught her and turned to look at the new arrival once more, the other Gundam being led by Airmaster into the dojo to find a room for her and talking about how happy she was to be with him.

"Sensei Airmaster…" Burst said softly as she watched the two walk away, knowing that he could not hear her. "Please be careful."

* * *

Burst sat quietly in her room, cleaning her armor as it rested on a stand in one corner of the room. The design of her armor was similar to that of her masters, only instead of being red it was replaced with blue. The large arm guards of the armor were circular to act as shields and with in them were blades that extended out to form swords. Airmaster himself had taken the time to help her with her armor in the past, changing it so that instead of rifles she could use the swords now built into it. She smiled behind her facemask as she thought of her sensei, the older Gundam always so kind to her, and protective.

"So, this is where you keep your armor." A voice stated behind her, and killed her good mood as she turned to look at Ashtaron. "I had wondered why you and Sensei Airmaster were not clad in armor, and instead wore those cloth garments."

"Sensei Airmaster says that there is no need to wear our armor all the time." Burst informed the other Gundam as she turned back to cleaning her armor. "They are used for times of battle, and in a time such as this, there is no need for them."

"Yet you keep them clean and in working order." Ashtaron said as she walked up to the suit of armor. "Ready for war even in a time of peace, doesn't that seem to contradict the teachings of Airmaster."

Burst glared at Ashtaron for a moment, "Sensei Airmaster says, 'We should be ready for anything. Even peace can be shattered by the ambitions of a few, and as defenders of the peace, we should be ready to confront those that wish to destroy it.'"

"You are very intelligent, not like a mindless drone at all. I wonder how that can be, since you have yet to be fully activated." Ashtaron said, as she looked at the green optics, "Very curious…"

Burst felt a chill run through her circuits as she met Ashtaron's gaze, "Sensei says that I'm special… that I'm not like the others."

"It makes one wonder if you are some kind of… Newtype." Ashtaron said, and almost seemed to snarl the last word.

"No… I'm not a Newtype." Burst shook her head slowly. "Sensei thinks that whatever happened to me in the final battle of the war caused a change in my program… so that I would be like this."

"I see… so you are just a product of a program glitch." Ashtaron chuckled, "You poor thing. You're nothing but a flawed and failed Gundam aren't you?"

Burst tightened her hands into fists as she tried to contain the anger that had started to boil inside of her. "I am not a failure, nor am I flawed. I am exactly how I was intended to be! And Sensei says that I am very special."

"I'm sure that he is only saying that so that he doesn't hurt your feelings… Not that you really have any." Ashtaron smiled sinisterly behind her facemask, the smile reflected in her eyes. "You can't have any real emotions, you aren't even fully activated, so you are nothing but a lowly little child program in a body meant for a true warrior. But don't feel bad, not everyone can truly be a Gundam… and we do need those that can polish armor. Maybe I will let you touch mine some day."

Burst resisted the urge to punch the other Gundam as long as she could before she finally snapped and rose to her feet, her arm drawn back and cocked to deliver a powerful blow to the darkly armored Gundam.

"That's enough!" A loud voice snapped and caused her to pause as she turned her head to see Airmaster standing in the doorway. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I-I'm sorry Sensei…" Burst said as she lowered her head and her raised fist, "Please forgive me…"

"I wasn't talking to you Burst." Airmaster said as he kept his eyes on Ashtaron, "But your apology is noted, and you are forgiven. I want to know what you think you are doing Ash. Coming into Bursts room, and saying what you did."

"I was only telling her the truth Sensei." Ashtaron replied as she walked up to the other Gundam and rested her hands on his shoulders to lean close to him. "She isn't like you or me, she didn't have a human companion to awaken her full programming and activate her. She should know the truth, or do you intend to keep her as an ignorant child forever?"

Airmaster brushed the other Gundam away from him with one hand, his brown eyes closed for a moment as he seemed to restrain himself. "Burst is not like us, that is true… but that is what makes her special. Even without a human companion, her full programming has awakened. So in truth, she is no different then you or I, or any of the others here that were programmed with emotions. And I will not have you telling her anything different, do you understand Ashtaron?"

The darkly armored Gundam let out a grunt as she turned away from Airmaster, "If you say so Sensei. I shall be in my chambers if you need me."

Airmaster waited till the other Gundam was out of earshot before he turned his attention to Burst and walked up to the young gundamess, and rested his hands on her shoulders. "It's alright Burst, you did well to resist hitting her to that point."

"I am sorry Sensei, I almost started a fight." Burst said as she looked away from him, "I almost broke the rules that you have set about fighting only being allowed in the practice rooms or in the arena for practice duels."

"Like I said Burst, it's alright." Airmaster smiled as his facemask split open with a hiss and showed his face. "You are very special to me Burst. You are like my daughter, and so I have raised you as such."

Burst nodded as her facemask opened to show a more feminine looking face then that of a standard Gundams. "T-thank you sensei."

Airmaster hugged her as he brought his lips close to her audio sensor and whispered quietly, "Don't talk… just let me hold you like this. I have something to share with you…"

Burst blushed as she dimmed her optics and wrapped her arms around Airmaster to return the hug, and listened to him.

"I don't trust Ashtaron." Airmaster whispered, "I have noticed some of the students looking at her, and sharing secret nods towards one another when they think no one else is looking. I don't know what is going on, but I can tell you that she is not a Gundam from the previous war. I don't know where she came from, or who she is working with… But something is not right, and to add to it, I am unsure how many of the students might be under her influence. Right now, you are the only one that I trust Burst, and that is why I want you to be ready. Tonight I am going to confront Ashtaron, and we must all be ready for what might happen."

Airmaster held Burst away from him to look into her face as her optics brightened, "You are indeed very special Burst, my daughter."

"Sens-" Burst blushed lightly as she looked down for a moment, and changed her mind. "Father."

Ashtaron growled low as she stood outside the room and slightly down the hall, her hand rested on the wall and picked up the conversation with her advanced hearing. "So… looks like he doesn't trust me after all."

* * *

Airmaster returned to the shrine, dressed in his armor for what he knew was to come, the aging Gundam knelt before the portrait of Ryu Sou, his companion and human brother during the war. He bowed his head as he placed two swords on his hips, the weapons attaching themselves to special clips he had installed on his armor as a small upgrade. He closed his brown eyes as he dimmed his green optics, the candles from the shrine gave the only light in the room, and allowed for many shadows to dance across the walls.

"You might as well come out, there is no need to stalk the shadows." Airmaster said calmly as he remained where he was, keenly aware of the presence of someone else in the room.

"You are a bit more skilled then I thought you were." Ashtaron said as she seemed to melt out of one of the shadows and walked to the middle of the room. "How did you know that I was here?"

"It wasn't that hard." He replied as he slowly stood up and lifted his head to look at the picture of his brother, with other pictures around the bottom of other members of the Sou family and clan. "Tell me… who is your master? Your real master."

"His name is not important. What is important is that he wants you out of the way." Ashtaron smiled as she extended a hand towards the elder Gundam. "There are two ways that this can happen. Either you surrender quietly, or you perish along with everyone else here."

"You and I both know that there is no real choice, you have already seen to that." Airmaster replied, his hand resting on the grip of his sword. "There is only one way that this night shall end."

"Very well then." Ashtaron nodded as she looked at him and raised her left arm to her mouth as a panel opened up. "All units, commence operation."

Within the rooms of the darkened palace, a number of Daughtress units stood up from their beds their sudden movement shocked the others around them. The yellow optics of the awakened units change quickly to a red color as new armored panels sprout over their bodies to give them a horned appearance, with large forearm armor split at the end like fanged prongs. The new Daughtress units turned to the others in their room and raised their arms, sending out deadly beams of energy into the unarmored units that were once their classmates. Ashtaron smiled as she heard the cries from the students of the Gundam being slaughtered by her hidden army that infiltrated the palace over the course of months.

Airmaster dashed forward quickly as he drew his sword and slashed at Ashtaron, the ancient blade cut a gash into her armor as she jumped back. The darkly armored Gundam growled as a pair of scissor like claws snapped out towards Airmaster and forced him back a bit. The aerial Gundam moved quickly to regain his balance to press the attack, and drove his assassin toward one of the exterior walls as he deflected her claws with his sword, each of his blows sent sparks flying. Ashtaron fired a pair of machine cannons hidden in the armor on her back at the wall to destroy it and allow her to fly out into the twilight sky. She pulled out her beam crossbow to fire several shots down at Airmaster, which the other Gundam easily smacked out of the way with his sword as he ran around the room.

"So, I was right!" Ashtaron smiled and laughed, "You have lost your ability to fly since the war."

"Is that what you think?" Airmaster smiled as he ran quickly toward the opening and leaped out, activating the thrusters in his body to lift him quickly towards the stunned black Gundam.

"You can fly!" Ashtaron said as she looked at him and shock and flew backwards to avoid his stabbing thrust, the point of his sword barely missing one of her vents.

"I can do more then just fly!" Airmaster smiled as he flipped in the air quickly and drove a powerful kick into Ashtaron's chest that sent her to the forest below.

Ashtaron cried out as she slammed into a tree and glared up at the aerial Gundam, "I'll make you pay for that!"

Airmaster dove at Ashtaron as she fired up at him with her cross bow, the elder Gundam knocked the shots away with ease as he drew closer. The black Gundam jetted to the side to avoid his blade, growling in rage at his power. Turning quickly he slashed one of the new Daughtress units from right shoulder to left him. The mechanical warrior fell in two pieces before exploding. Ashtaron lashed out at the other Gundam with her claws, the sound of his blade against hers echoed through the night air along with the sounds of battle in the dojo.

The battle in the dojo spilt out into the forest and surrounding area as the students fought back with all their might against the Neo Daughtress units. Burst panted as she fought in her armor for the first time in actual combat, the twin blades extending from her forearms reflected the light of small fires burning around her. She pushed her way through the thong of bodies fighting, hacking her way as she did so, till she spotted Ashtaron dueling with Airmaster.

"Sensei!" Burst shouted as she started towards Airmaster to help him.

"Burst! Get the students out of here! NOW!" Airmaster snapped as his sword sliced off a layer of paint from the claws.

"Don't worry Burst, I'll finish him quick and then you shall follow." Ashtaron chuckled as she continued her attack.

Airmaster let out grunt as one of the claws flashed past his sword and slammed into his chest. The feeling of several parts of his frame crushed under the blow caused him to wince for a slight moment as he jumped back.

"You are a lot stronger then I thought, for someone so old." Ashtaron smiled as he looked at him, her claws continued to lash out at him as Airmaster blocked with his sword.

"Sensei!" Burst cried out again, alarmed by the sound as she felt something wrong with the older unit.

Airmaster blocked the oncoming attacks of the black Gundam as he leapt into the air and spun around quickly to knock the claws back with his sword, landing a solid kick to Ashtaron's chest that sent her flying into a tree.

"Burst! I told you to get out of here." Airmaster commanded as he hovered in the air, "Get as many students as you can out of here."

Burst shuddered as she took a step back, frightened by the tone of voice from her sensei. She nodded finally as she turned and ran back towards the dojo, collecting as many students as she could find. She could still hear him fighting Ashtaron and the Neo Daughtress units that had gathered from the battle, as she led the students down a cliff passage to a group of small boats. A sickening feeling shot through her as if her chest had been pierced by a blade and her optics lit up brightly as she stared at the sky. A pair of brown eyes formed in her optics as she looked at the heavens, a distant light from the moon shot down on the horizon as she stood there.

"Burst-sama!" One of the students cried as it tugged on her arm, snapping her back to reality.

Burst shook her head for a moment before she pushed off the small dock, launching the last of the small boats from the shore and out into the open sea. She looked back to see the shadowy figure of Ashtaron standing with an army of Neo Daughtress units, the vile black Gundam cackled with glee as she rose her arms up towards the sky, the fires raging around and in the dojo consuming the remains of the once proud school. Burst lowered her head as the pain in her chest subsided, her optics dimming till they shut off. Her optics reactivated what seemed like only a moment to her to the sight of a strange metal ceiling above her. She blinked her brown eyes as she tried to figure out where she was, and heard a sound beside her that caused her to turn her head. Burst stared at the red haired girl that looked back at her and hugged a stuffed animal, the curious looking girl obviously a human.

"W-who are you?" Burst asked as she looked at the girl.

"My name is Mana, what's yours?" The girl replied as she looked at her with a smile.

Burst sat up slowly and saw a large Gundam at the foot of the bed, dressed in heavy armor, and unlike any that she had seen before. "Who are you!? Are you one of Ashtaron's people!?"

"Ashtaron?" The knight Gundam looked at her curiously, "I'm sorry, but we don't know who that is. We found you a drift at sea on a small boat, and brought you aboard. Are you alright miss?"

"I demand that you take me east, towards where the moon rises." Burst ordered as she hopped off the bed and looked at the larger Gundam, the cat eyed mecha looked at her oddly.

"Why do you want to go there?" The Gundam asked, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I was told to by my father to go to the east, to seek help to take my homeland back from evil." Burst replied, "And if you do not assist me, then I shall treat you just like I would the evil that has taken my homeland and slaughtered my father."

Mana lightly tugged on the arm of the female Gundam with a smile, "We're going east too, and you don't have to be so mean. Kitty won't hurt you, he and I helped you and I'm sure we can all be friends."

"Kitty?" Burst looked at the girl curiously before looking at the large Gundam, and tried not to laugh, only to crack up as she saw his cat like eyes stare back at her. "Kitty Gundam!"

"I am not a cat!" The large Gundam said as he stomped his foot and took a step forward, "I am Gundam Leo, a royal knight of Estar!"

"Well then, knight…" Burst said as she turned to him formally and bowed to both him and Mana, "I am Burst, of the Sou Clan."

"It's nice to meet you Burst." Mana smiled as she looked at the female Gundam, "Now, to continue going east! Toward the light of the moon!"


	5. Chapter 5

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Five****  
**_**"Four Gundams"**_

Ran looked down grimly at the sight of the destruction, the ground looked as if it had been scraped away by a large shovel, leaving a flat surface behind. The pilot circled around the area in his small plane as the engine sputtered, the wake of destruction ended close to a structure built into the side of the mountain that he recognized instantly. Ran closed his eyes for a moment as he surveyed his options and then looked down at the flat land left by the blast to see if he could find a place to set his plane down. As he looked he could see a white and blue land battle ship hovering over the ground on an air cushion towards the scene. Ran sighed as he brought his plane down, the ship stopping close to where he landed his plane and opening a large side panel big enough for two cars to enter and exit.

As the panel folded down to form a ramp, a familiar figure stepped out along with several Daughtress units armed with machine guns and shields to secure the area. Ran hopped out of his plane onto the ground as Ennil walked up to him, the red haired woman dressed in a white business suit.

"Looks like you came to see what was going on as well Ran." Ennil said as she stopped beside him and looked around. "I don't think that I have seen destruction like this for a long time. What do you think caused it?"

"There's only one thing that I can think of that can leave something like this." Ran replied as he turned toward the abandoned base and walked towards it, noticing that one of the doors was leaning against the opening, obviously placed there by someone inside. "I'm going in."

"On no you're not." Ennil said as she walked alongside Ran, and motioned for the Daughtress units to stay where they are. "I'm coming with you."

"Suit yourself." Ran said as he reached into his red and tan jacket to pull out a handgun, ejecting the clip slightly to check how much ammunition he had before slamming it back into place and chambering a round.

"Do you really think that you are going to need that thing?" Ennil asked as she eyed the gun, a weapon that she herself had sworn never to use again.

"Did you think that you were going to need that Tenzan class battleship?" Ran countered as he pushed the door open, being careful not to let it fall onto the floor and set it aside. "I know exactly what we are going to find, I just hope that I am wrong."

Ennil followed the pilot into the abandoned base and looked around to see that there was power still to parts of it. She stared at everything and shook her head as she did so, marveling at the condition of the base after being neglected for fifteen years. Ennil perked as she heard the sound of voices coming from deeper in the base, the sound caused her to proceed more cautiously. Ran motioned for her to get on the side of the wall close to them as they neared a door way, the pilot raised his gun as he pressed his back against the surface of the wall and edged closer to the door. Ennil kept close to him as she tried to make out the voices, picking out three different ones but all of them distorted by the echo of the empty base, even at such a short distance.

Ran jumped out from around the corner of the door quickly and pointed his gun at the trio in the room, "No body move!"

The sound of a beam rifle coming online quickly filled the room along with the shuffle of feet, and Ran saw a Gundam pointing its own weapon at him in a stand off.

"X, lower your weapon." A voice commanded and Ran was quick to realize that it was another Gundam, one of the same type but much more battle damaged and worn by age.

"Dad!" Sam shouted as she stood in shock of the sight of her father with a gun pointed at her and the two Gundams.

Ran kept his weapon trained on the newer looking Gundam as he heard his daughters voice and gave her a quick glance. "Sam, what are you doing here?"

"I can explain… but please put your gun away, and you to X." Sam said as she looked at her father and the Gundam X.

"Okay." The Gundam said as he lowered his weapon finally and Ran did the same, both of them looking at one another.

"There are two of them…" Ennil said finally as she stood in the door way and looked at the two Gundam's. "Both of them are the same type aren't they?"

"Yes, both of them are Gundam X units." Ran confirmed as he looked at the two and noticed the blue eyes of the older Gundam. ". . . Lieutenant."

Lieutenant looked at Ran directly in the eyes, having to look up at him due to their height difference. "… I had my suspicious, but I guess this confirms it. You look well, Lieutenant Commander Ran Ashta."

Sam blinked in confusion as she looked at her father and Lieutenant, the two continued to stare at one another motionlessly for the longest time.

"Lieutenant Commander?" X broke the cold silence in the room as he looked at Ran and put his rifle away on his backpack. "Is he really a Lieutenant Commander?"

Ran lowered his head and gun with a sigh and clicked the safety onto the weapon, "It appears that there is now more then one person that knows who I am around these parts."

The blood red armored Virsago walked along the halls of the fortress Severn, dark storm clouds outside showered the stone fortress with shadows, allowing for the torches to light the way. Virsago lowered his head as he heard the footsteps running up to him from behind and waited for them to draw closer before he paused in his trek toward his private chambers.

"Lord Virsago!" Bertigo shouted as she stopped behind the mysterious Gundam, "I demand to know where Prince Carris is at once!"

"My fine young Knightress, do you think that I would allow any harm to come to our young Prince?" Virsago asked as he turned around to look at her, "Both you and he are guests here in my new kingdom, and I always treat my guests kindly."

Bertigo drew her sword quickly, her armor covered with scorch marks from her battle to reach the Gundam. "This is not your kingdom! This is Prince Carris's, and I shall not let you have this fortress! You will tell me what you have done with Prince Carris at once, or I shall carve the answer out of you!"

Virsago chuckled as he looked at the large sword, "You really think you are a match for me? I am after all a Gundam."

"I was more then one for Leo, and he was a Gundam." Bertigo shouted as she charged forward, "Give me back the Prince!"

Bertigo's optic widened with shock as her blade was caught in mid swing by a clawed hand of the Gundam, Virsago's arm having unfolded and extended to cover the distance between them and stop her attack. Before she could recover from the shock, another large clawed hand slammed into her, forcing her against one of the stone walls and pinning her in place. Virsago smiled as he looked at the Knightress and plucked the sword from her hand, he flipped it into the air as he transformed his arm back to its normal length and caught the sword in his hand. The Gundam walked forward slowly toward Bertigo, like a spider approaching its prey caught in its web. Bertigo growled as she struggled to free herself, the arm of the red Gundam held her firmly in place as he stalked closer, examining her sword.

"This truly is a well crafted sword." Virsago said as he paused a short distance from Bertigo, "It is made of the same material as your armor isn't it?"

"Why do you want to know?" Bertigo hissed as she glared at him.

"I guess it doesn't really matter. Here, you can have it back." Virsago said coldly as he withdrew his arm quickly and slashed Bertigo down the middle, cutting a large gash in her armor and caused the Knightress to scream out in pain.

The Gundam smiled as he saw her drop to her knees, her body sparked from head to toe from the damage as she shuddered. Virsago turned away from Bertigo as he head the footsteps of the Juracg soldiers, the group paused as they saw the Knightress defeated.

"Remove her at once from my palace, toss her into the wastes with the other trash." Virsago commanded and the soldiers obeyed, picking up the wounded Bertigo easily to cart her off.

Virsago sighed as he continued to his private chambers and pushed the doors open, closing them behind him as he looked at Bertigo's sword. The red Gundam put the weapon aside as he continued forward toward a metallic cylinder in the middle of the room with cables attached to it running to machines on all sides that kept monitoring the condition of the contents. Virsago walked up to the container with a smile as he rested his hand on the transparent window at the head of the device, the blond haired prince resting comfortably inside, and appeared to be sleeping. The Gundam smiled as he ran his fingers over the top of the case and looked down at the prince, chuckling to himself.

"You truly were just as foolish as my master said that humans are." Virsago said, "All you needed to turn on the others was a little push, and this little gem."

Virsago looked at the ring in his other hand as he held it between two fingers to reflect the light, "The control censor to amplify your own mental powers so that you could control our little Espers and those Bagu Bagu, and all the time you were loosing your own will without knowing it. You never asked what the price was that you had to pay for having the power to become stronger and to become king. Blinded by your own greed and ambition you have placed yourself in this situation, such a pitty. But don't worry, you are still very useful to the masters plans, which is why you are the only organic not turned to stone in this kingdom."

"So that is why it is so quiet here." A voice said behind him from the shadows, as a red faced Gundamess stepped out of the darkness of one of the shadows. "It looks like your mission went well, brother."

"And since you are here I take it that your's went as planned as well." Virsago said as he turned to look at Ashtaron.

"It went as well as could be expected, there was some trouble with the Airmaster unit that was leading the nation." Ash smiled, "But I took care of him."

"Good, we shall send his body to the master so that he will be of some use to us." Virsago looked back at Carris, drawing his sisters attention to the container. "Everything is moving according to plan, and soon we will have this entire world in our grasp as well as space."

Ash stared at the blond haired prince and lowered her head, "Yes brother, all shall know the pain that we have felt and suffer the same as the Master has."

"Yes, but first we have to take over the rest of Gaia, and secure it for our master." Virsago said as he looked at his sister, "Has the Master sent the one that he wants to head the take over of the Northern and Southern Continents of Ameropa?"

"Not yet, I don't even know who he intends to operate in that area, from what I hear it is nothing but a lawless wasteland with bandits running free and very little organized society." Ash said as she thought of the area regarded as a wasteland. "But who ever that the Master sends, I pity them. I'm sure that the units that are there are nothing but goof balls and idiots."

"Three… two… one… PUSH!" Kroc shouted as he pushed as hard as he could along with Slasher, the both of them working together to move a piece of metal that had shielded them inside the remains of one of the land battleships that attacked the former Gaia base.

The plate of metal fall off the ship easily and caused the soil around it to flood into the opening a bit till it pooled around the survivors feet.

"We're free! Jen!" One of the surviving Jenice units of the ship shouted as he scurried out of the door along with a dozen other units, climbing over Kroc and Slasher as they did so.

"HEY! Watch it you block heads!" Kroc shouted as he growled and rubbed his head, "Some gratitude for you. We do the work and they don't even say thanks."

Slasher rubbed her shoulder as she sighed, "At least we are free from this mess. Lets see what is out there."

"Right." Kroc nodded as he climbed out of the door way as well with Slasher, and both of them are blinded by the brightness of the sun.

"Alright, nobody move!" A voice shouted and the two customized Jenice units froze as their vision cleared and allowed them to see that they were surrounded by a large group of Daughtress units.

"Kroc… I think that it was safer in that wreak." Slasher said as she raised her hands and looked at the dark colored Jenice.

"Oy…" Kroc rolled his optic as he raised his hand, "Can this day get any worse?"

* * *

"So what do you think that we should do now?" Ennil asked as she walked into her office in the battleship she brought with her to the base, followed by Ran. "Two Gundam's with that kind of firepower can't be allowed just to run free."

"I know, but that is why I think that you should ask them to join with our defense forces." Ran said as he watched Ennil walk around to her desk, the office decorated with a few plants and rows of books, along with a violin. "This area is very dangerous, and that attack by those three Jenice bandits are proof of that. We could use the added advantage of those two Gundams."

"But both of them are made to use the Satellite Cannon, and are as dangerous as those bandits." Ennil replied and shook her head. "I don't like the idea at all."

"You don't have to worry about them using their cannons, I know one of them personally from when I was in the military." Ran informed the mayor, "Lieutenant Gundam X will not use his cannon, you've already seen that he has had it removed and how damaged he is. All of that damage is from the war, I'm sure of it, and he knows full well the results of using such a weapon."

"Then what about that other Gundam X? The one that fired his cannon and almost took out our town, can you honestly say that he won't use that cannon again?" Ennil asked, and saw the sullen look on Ran's face. "I thought not. I'm sorry Ran, but I have to think of the lives of the people of this town. It just isn't safe to have such a weapon in this town."

"Then why not use that base in the mountains?" Ran suggested, "It has all the equipment needed to maintain the two Gundams, and it is far enough away that there is no threat to the people."

Ennil sighed as she sat down in her chair, "I don't know Ran… I am still in shock that there are two Gundam's here, and that they have survived after all this time. All of the Daughtress units that we have are ones that have been rebuilt from older ones that somehow survived from being scrapped."

The mayor lowered her head as she thought for a moment, "Ran, you were once a part of the Gaian Forces, are you sure you know that older Gundam unit as well as you say?"

"I am sure." Ran replied and looked at her, "If he was dangerous, do you think that I would have lowered my gun when I saw him?"

"Alright then, they can stay at the base in the mountains, but they are to be under your command." Ennil smiled as she saw the shocked look on Ran's face.

"Under my command? What do you mean?" Ran asked as he stared at her, "You can't be suggesting that I-"

"That is exactly what I am suggesting." Ennil interrupted, "You know that Gundam well, so that means that you can manage him. You are also the only one in this area that is versed with Gundams as part of the Gaian Forces. Not to mention that it is your idea."

Ran grimaced as he saw the look on Ennil's face, the woman seemed to enjoy putting him on the spot. "There is no way that I am going to get out of this is there?"

"Not a chance." Ennil smiled, "We should start drafting up the papers now to make it official."

Ennil blinked as the phone on her desk rang and she picked up the device to answer it, "Yes… I see. Have them locked up in the brig, we shall deal with them shortly."

"What was that about?" Ran asked as he watched Ennil hang up the phone.

"It seems that there are some survivors from that attack that the Gundam did." Ennil explained, "I'm having them locked up now, so if you want to get the others out of the brig, you had better go down there."

Sam sighed as she sat on a bench in the detention area of the tower, along with the two Gundam units, both of them stripped of their weapons and disarmed. "This stinks, why did they put us in here?"

"I'm confused to, why are we here, and why did you want to come with us Sam?" X asked as he looked at the human curiously.

"Well I couldn't just let you two go alone, and I though that Mrs. Zabi would rethink throwing you both in here if I said I was going to." Sam explained, "I can't believe that my dad didn't protest either. He let them put me in here."

"I can understand why." Lieutenant said as he lowered his head in thought, "You didn't tell him about me, or other things that have happened. He is most likely treating this as an alternative to grounding you."

Sam grimaced as she looked at Lieutenant, "You really think that he is mad at me?"

"Yes." Lieutenant replied simply, "But it is my fault for letting you put yourself in that position."

"But why did they take our weapons and lock us in here?" X asked as he looked at the other Gundam, "I don't understand, if Lieutenant Commander Ran is a member of the Gaia Forces, then why lock us up?"

"The central government for the Gaia Forces is no longer in existence X, don't tell me you have forgotten that already." Lieutenant explained, "We are in here because we are Gundam X units, and because of the damage that you did with your Satellite Cannon. They no doubt consider us a danger to those in this town and so have put us where we couldn't harm anyone."

"That would be correct." Ran said as he looked at the others on the other side of the bars to the detention room.

"Dad!" Sam shouted as she jumped up and ran to the bars, "Lieutenant and X won't hurt anyone, you have to let us out. Or at least let them out, you can leave me here and ground me, but don't punish them."

Ran sighed as he pushed a card into a slot on a control panel and entered a code, opening the doors. "The three of you are coming with me. Mayor Ennil has put me in charge of the both of you."

"You mean you are the new Commander?" X asked as he looked Ran, looking him over as he stood up.

"That is one way you can put it." Ran said as he scratched the back of his head. "I haven't heard what my rank would be, but Mayor Ennil is working on that part and will let me know."

Lieutenant nodded as he stood up, "Does this mean that we are being forced into service for this town?"

Ran grimaced as he looked at the battle damaged Gundam, "I wish that I could say no, but that is one of the conditions of your release."

"I see." Lieutenant looked down, "I had hoped not to be involved with any type of military service after the end of the war."

"But, Lieutenant that is what we were made for!" X said excitedly, "We were built to defend Gaia from harm, and what better way to do that then in the defense forces of this town? It would be an honor to serve along side you Commander."

Ran stared at X as the Gundam turned and saluted him, "Yeah, that is kind of a way to look at things as well…"

Lieutenant thought for a moment before he nodded, "Alright, if X is going to join then I shall as well. I can't let him run around on his own, he isn't as experienced, as the incident earlier proves."

"What about me?" Sam asked as she looked at her father and the Gundams, "What am I going to do?"

Ran lowered his head as he closed his eyes for a moment in thought before he looked at his daughter, "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that no matter what I say you are going to try and stay with these two aren't you? In that case I will have to keep you along as well and find something for you to do."

* * *

Sam growled as she pulled on one of the doors of the base, the metal door stuck in its track. " 'Find something for you to do' he said. He didn't say that it would be maintenance at this place!"

The door came free suddenly and caused Sam to fall against the wall with a heavy thud before she fell onto the floor. She hissed at the door before she got up and shook her fist at it, rolling up her sleeves.

"That's it! You and me are going to go a few rounds Mister Door!" Sam shouted as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a multi-tool, and flipped it open as if it were a butterfly knife. "Let's see what your circuits have to say when I get dome with you. I'll teach you to knock me down."

"You know it isn't good when you start talking to doors." X said as he stood behind Sam, and caused her to jump with fright.

"X!" Sam shouted as she turned on him, "What are you doing sneaking around here?"

"I wasn't sneaking." X replied, whimpering slightly as he saw the look in her eyes, "I just came to see if I could help you with anything Sam. I'm sorry I scared you."

Sam looked at him curiously for a moment then sighed as she stepped back, "Alright, you can help me with getting this section of doors working so that we can have more living space in this old base. Half of the doors are either locked or broken, honestly this place is a dump! Why would my dad want to use this as a base?"

"I'm sure that Admiral Ashta has his reasons." X said as he walked over to one of the other doors and pulled on it as hard as he could, sliding it back into the wall with ease. "This is where you wanted Lieutenant and I to stay isn't it?"

"Well… yeah, but I thought that you two could only use a small part of this place, not the whole thing." Sam shook her head as she opened a panel on the outside of the room next to the door and started to work on the circuits for it to locate the problem. "The two of you could have made a good living out of only a few rooms in here."

"I kind of like how it is now." X smiled as he checked the doors circuits and reactivated parts of it. "With all the Daughtress units running around helping to get things in order, and the construction crews working to fix the front of the base it is looking like an operations base once more."

Sam thought for a moment as she looked at X, and then retuned to working on the circuit. "X, do you remember anything else from when you were built?"

"I remember some things that I have stored in my memory banks" X replied as he looked at her, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious… How is it that you only activated when Lieutenant and I were here and not anytime before that?" Sam asked as she finished her work on the circuit and the door opened and closed properly.

"Well…" X lowered his head in thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. But I do know that I am fully activated and not partly."

"What do you mean?" Sam looked at him puzzled as they made their way to the next set of doors.

"Gundams like myself have two different modes." X explained, "The first mode is our default or test mode where we can operate for a limited time and only have access to certain things with permission from our creators. When we are in that mode our eyes are just a solid color. But when we are fully activated an energy sphere in our chest is created by the human that we have been assigned to, and we take on the eye color of our activator. We are then able to use our full power and programming, and we serve along side the one that activated us."

Sam tilted her head to the side as she stared at X and saw that he had the same color eyes as herself, "That doesn't make sense, your eyes are the same color as mine… I didn't hit any buttons to activate you fully."

X looked at Sam in shock as he took a step back, "I thought that Lieutenant activated me! Are my eyes really the same color as yours?"

"You can't tell me that you haven't looked in a mirror since you were activated…" Sam narrowed her eyes at the Gundam X as she stared at him.

"Well… I… uhm…." X blushed as he looked down at his feet, "I can't find any that I can look into… I'm too short."

Sam blinked as she stared at X before she broke out in laughter, "You are great X! Come on, we'll get you a room of your own and set up a mirror for you to look into. How's that?"

"Thank you Sam." X smiled as he looked at her, his body stiffened as he felt a jolt run though him and turned his head down the hall. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Sam asked as she stared at him, the alarm for the base sounded a second after she finished her question and caused her to jump back. "What's going on?"

"All units, prisoners are escaping! All units, prisoners are escaping!" A womans voice called out over the loud speakers of the base. "Be advised, they are armed and dangerous!"

"Prisoner escape…" Sam blinked as she and X looked at one another confused.

"Dang it, their on to us!" Kroc grumbled as he pushed the air vent cover open and fell out onto the floor, landing a short distance from the two.

"Then let's get out of here fast!" Slasher said as she fell out of the vent on top of Kroc, both of them jumped to their feet and moved as the smaller Jenice units fell out of the vent as well.

"Right!" Kroc nodded, "Everyone follow me!"

"Hold it right there!" X shouted as he glared at the prisoners and caused them to stop in their tracks. "Surrender now and you won't force me to hurt you!"

Kroc slowly turned his head to see X and then jumped up into the air with the others around him, "RUN FOR IT!"

The Jenice units along with their two commanders broke into a run quickly as they darted down the hall, some of the small green Jenice soldiers running into doors trying to find a place to hide from the Gundam. As the group ran, Sam and X looked at one another and tried not to laugh at the comical sight before they chased after them. The group ran down the hall as fast as they could, checking each door only to find them locked of frozen in place with age. Sam pulled out a map from her back pocket and checked their location, smiling as she looked over at X, the Gundam nodded as he followed her down another hallway, out of sight of the Jenice units.

"Did we lose them?" Slasher asked as she kept running as fast as she could, "Please tell me we lost them."

"I think so." Kroc replied as he checked behind them. "They aren't back there."

"Good!" Slasher said and stopped, causing the others to run into her and almost knocked her over. "Watch it you guys! I'm a lady after all."

"Jen…" The smaller green units chorused as they sat on the floor or leaned against the wall exhausted.

"You're as much a lady as I am the king of hearts!" Kroc huffed as he panted.

"You take that back!" Slasher growled as she towered over Kroc, "Right now! Or I will-"

"Excort you back to your cell?" X offered as he stood in front of the group with Sam.

"Yeah! I'll escort you back to your ce-… Wait a second…" Slasher and the other former Dark Cirrus units turned their heads to look at the Gundam and Sam. ". . . Uhm… RUN! THE OTHER WAY!"

X and Sam chuckled as they watched the group as they tore through the hall in the other direction as if they were mice running from a cat.

"I could do this all day." Sam said as she let smiled and followed X down another hall way to cut the group off once more.

"This is fun." X chuckled as he ran and smiled back at the girl. "But you know I wonder what they are suppose to be armed with. They were stripped of their weapons and their chest cannons are deactivated and unarmed."

"That is a good question…" Sam said as she continued to follow X, "It's most likely something not that dangerous if they are running away from us like this."

As the chase continued inside, outside a large crimson land battle ship made its way closer to the base. The smooth lines of the ship and its double launch bays in the front left no doubt as to what type of ship it was, the right side of the ship boasted a small launch and cargo deck for aerial units, while the left side housed the bridge tower and a large double barreled cannon. A single optic glowed behind a three slotted visor as the captain of the ship looked at its target, and tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. His armor the same blood red color of his ship, with black markings on his chest and a golden crest with a head similar to his and a skeleton attached to it. On both sides of the symbol sat large golden blades that curved inward as they moved down, with a large V crest behind it.

"So that base has enough fire power to level this area and cause a number of bandits to vanish from this planet." The mysterious unit said as he stared out at the path left by X's satellite cannon, "Impressive. Navigator, this is far enough. Prepare to launch our troops and ready the cannon. Set target for that base. Once it has fallen, the people of this town will know who has the power to rule and surrender without a fight."

"Yes, Captain Descen." The yellow Neo Daughtress said as he brought the ship to a stop and the two large hanger bay doors at the front of the ship opened.

The cannon mounted before the bridge moved slightly as it locked onto the base, its barrel charging with energy as the ships captain smiled. "FIRE!"

X stopped dead in his tracks as he felt a spike run through him and noticed Sam did the same. "Enemies!"

The base rattled as the shot from the cannon struck the reinforced outer wall, the vibration knocked many inside to the floor, as others scrambled to figure out what happened.

"Blast it! That was a beam cannon!" Ran growled as he steadied himself and slammed his hand hard on a button in the control room of the base, signally everyone to assume their battle stations.

Lieutenant glared in the direction of the attack for a moment before he broke into a run, and ran from the room as quickly as he could. He made his way swiftly to the large doors at the front of the base as X and Sam reached it. The younger Gundam ran over to a catapult system that had been installed and waited as Sam pushed her way into the launch operations room. Lieutenant watched as Sam accessed the controls easily and typed commands into it to cause an arch to move over the catapult and X, a pair of arms folded out holding onto his backpack and satellite cannon, attaching it to him easily along with a shoulder Vulcan cannon.

"They're already working together like this…" Lieutenant said as he watched the two, the doors to the launch bay opened as X crouched. "I have to get ready to."

"X, Lets do it!" X shouted as he braced himself, the catapult activated as I should and rocketed him out the opening and into the skies.

Lieutenant stepped onto the catapult next and the same crane system attached a backpack without the satellite cannon on it, but just a beam rifle and beam saber. "Lieutenant Gundam X, Launching!"

The base rocked as Lieutenant made it out of the launch bay just as another blast from the ships cannon hit the base. Kroc shouted as he flailed and fell onto the floor, growling as he got up quickly.

"Who's attacking this place? Don't they know that we are in here?" Kroc shouted as he started to run with the others again.

"I don't think that they care that we are." Slasher commented as she followed the darkly armored Jenice. "They sure do have a powerful cannon though from the sounds of it."

"However they are, they are going to be sorry that they are shooting at us. I'll tear his arms from his sockets!" Kroc yelled as he reached the launch bay with the others, all of them paused in surprise at their turn of luck. "Now this is more like it. Grab what you can! We are going to teach these guys how to really fight dirty!"

The Jenice units nodded as they picked up anything they could find to use as a weapon and ran out the open launch door into the fray of battle, mingling with the Daughtress units of the base and the Neo Daughtress units that filed out of the large land battleship in the distance. Kroc shouted as he ran up to one of the Neo's and hammered it metal waffle iron. Slasher chuckled as she smacked several Neo units with a serving ladle hard enough to knock them out, the green Jenice units around her rushed about tackling the different units and beating on them with various cooking tools as well as scrap pieces of metal and boxes.

"What?" Lieutenant stared at the Jenice units as they fought against the strange new units. "I guess this means that they aren't part of the same group."

He turned his attention back to the task at hand as he ran around the clearing, firing his beam rifle at a group of the strange units to cause them to explode. "How many of them are there in that ship?"

"Lieutenant!" X shouted from above as he dodged beam weapon fire from the forearm blasters of the Neo's flying around after him. "What-Who are they?"

"I have no idea, but we have to keep them away from the base!" Lieutenant ordered, firing his chest cannons at the new units. "These guys are a lot tougher then the units I have seen before… Where did they come from?"

"You should be more worried about where you are going!" A voice shouted as Lieutenant felt a tingling of warning behind him.

Lieutenant spun around quickly and transformed his beam rifle into its shield mode to block the beam saber in time, the energy hissed and crackled at him as it burned the white paint off the armor. He glared at the crimson unit before him as it smiled back at him with a cold stare from its single optic.

"You are just as good as I had hoped, Gundam." The crimson unit said, as he shoved Lieutenant and then jumped back a short distance. "I was hoping that I would run into at least one of you. Now I can test my skills against the real thing."

"Who are you?" Lieutenant asked as he aimed his beam rifle at the strange unit.

"Put away your rifle Gundam, and face me in a true duel. Then I shall offer you my name." The Captain of the attacking forces said as he held his beam saber with both hands.

Lieutenant considered for a moment and then tossed his rifle away as he drew his beam saber and took a balanced stance. "Now… tell me your name."

"My name is Captain Crimson Descen of Neo-Axis." The crimson unit smiled as he glared at Lieutenant, "Now, shall I have your name?"

"That wasn't part of our arrangement." Lieutenant said as he rushed forward at the unit and swung his beam saber, the younger unit blocked his attack easily and locked blades.

"I should have known that you Gaian's would have no mannors." Crimson growled as he shoved Lieutenant back a bit and tried to cut the Gundam in half at the waist, aiming for his weakened side.

Lieutenant countered quickly and the two energy blades clashed once more in a brilliant dance of light as the two displayed their swordsmanship. "So then, you are a Spacenoid. Thank you for the information."

"Don't get cocky with me old man!" Crimson smirked, "Two Gundams are nothing before the forces of Neo-Axis."

"Then allow us to step in!" An unfamiliar voice shouted as a heavy metal fist slammed into the side of Crimson's head to knock him away from Lieutenant.

"Who dares!" Crimson shouted as he regained his balance and looked up to see the large frame of a cat eared knight Gundam. "A Knight Gundam? Here!?"

"Attacking those older and less able as you are, you should be ashamed of yourself." Leo said as he drew his weapon from his side and spun his chained ball mace around, "I shall teach you a lesson in manners."

"Three Gundams!" Crimson said in shock as he took a step back from Leo and Lieutenant.

"CAPTAIN!" One of the Neo units shouted from above before he exploded and caught the attention of the Descen.

Crimson looked up quickly and spotted the blue and white frame of another Gundam, this one holding two blades in her hands as she hovered in the middle of a group of frightened Neo Doughtress units. "Four! Four Gundams!!"

"Gundam Knight Leo, The Iron Knight of Estar!" Leo shouted as he rushed forward and quickly slammed his weapon into Crimson to knock the Descen into the air.

Burst spun around quickly and slashed the Neo's with her blades before Descen could reach her. "Burstmaru, of the Ryu Clan!"

Crimson cried out in pain as the Gundamess sliced into his armor and knocked his beam saber away before she kicked him back down to the ground.

"Wow…" X said as he watched the two newcomers, "Two more Gundams…"

Crimson groaned as he got up and looked at the four Gundams as they started to form a line before him. He looked around him at his remaining attack force and backed away slowly.

"All forces, fall back! Fall back to the Providence!" Crimson shouted as he jumped up activated his thrusters to fly back to his ship with his Neo's.

Burst landed gracefully on the ground at the same time as X, and the two walked over to Lieutenant and Leo casually, all of them looking at one another. As the group stared each other down, Ran looked on from the control room of the base along with Sam, both of them in just as much shock. Ran shut his eyes for a moment in thought as a smile spread across his face. He opened them once more to look at the four Gundams that stood before him on the monitor screen, and the ship closing in on them as their attackers left in theirs.

"It seems that our small force has grown to four Gundams now." Ran said as he watched the scene, the four continued to stare at one another as the sun set in the distance, silhouetting them all. "We're going to need more room…"


	6. Chapter 6

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Six****  
**_**"Vortex"**_

The sun rose over the testing grounds of the newest piece of technology to be created by one of the youngest inventors of Neotopia, the golden rays of sunlight highlight the polished metal of the towering device. Antenna, satellite and radar dishes decorated the outer surface along with several other odd looking devices meant to measure a wide range of things. The tall brown haired boy smiled as he looked at his machine with his trifocal goggles, and nodded his head with approval as it shone brightly on the desert landscape.

"Wow, what is that?" A green eyed boy asked as he ran up to the other boy, "It's huge!"

"That is my latest invention." The other boy stated proudly, "And it had better not be cut into four pieces like one of my other ones."

"You aren't going to let me live that down are you, Bell Wood?" The samurai from Ark said as he looked at the boy.

"Not in the slightest." Bell Wood replied.

"It is impressive, what does it do?" The hovering Gundam asked as he lowered himself to only a few inches above the ground.

"It is my Dimensional Anomaly Detection Array." Bell Wood explained, "I built it based on some research that Kao Lyn did after an incident here fifteen years ago."

"That's right! I remember that incident very clearly." Kao Lyn said as he nodded, dressed in his typical yellow gi and ying yang glasses. "A vortex appeared on this spot that produced a great deal of energy. I was able to measure it before it vanished, and it was off the charts."

"You mean this spot? Does this mean that it could appear again right on top of us?" The samurai asked as he looked at the two inventors, worried about what they might be talking about.

"Not this exact spot, it was over there were the arch is and platform." Kao Lyn corrected as he pointed at a large arch capable of fitting the Gundamusai in with room to spare. "The arch is called the Gateway, and is built larger then the size of the vortex, but only slightly so. If it does appear again, then it should be able to contain it and allow us to study it further."

"And my detector should be able to handle the energy and stabilize it for us to study it." Bell Wood explained, "It was made according to the theories and data that was collected before, so it should be able to hold up to whatever that vortex is."

"But the last time that it appeared was fifteen years ago?" The green eyed boy asked, "How do you know if it will happen again, and that it will happen here?"

Kao Lyn smiled under his mustache, "Shute my boy, there are certain areas on the planet that are toned with different dimensions, or where things happen that shouldn't. Such as stones rolling up a hill, and other such crazy things. This place has all of those, and so is the perfect place for a vortex to form don't you think?"

"Well… I guess so." Shute said as he scratched the back of his head confused, "When do you think that this vortex is going to appear again?"

"Well…" Bell Wood looked at Kao Lyn for a moment before they both sighed, "We don't know. That is why we made this."

The large V-finned Gundam beside Shute stared at the Gateway arch curiously for a long while as he silently listened to the others. "It is an interesting concept and design; I think that it might work. Do you think that the energy could be used as a way to create a something similar to the Zakorello Gate?"

"Another Zakorello Gate!?" The samurai asked as he looked at the arch and then back at the Gundam, "Captain, you're joking aren't you?"

"Indeed I'm not Bakunetsumaru." Hyper Captain said as he looked at the samurai, "If it did prove to be an energy source capable of the Zakorello Gate, then we would have a means of transportation between our dimensions that would not require Princess Rele or the teleportation device that Bell Wood has for the Gundamusai."

"It would be good to have something ease the strain on her highness." The flying knight Gundam nodded, "The Princess uses a great deal of mana to move us to and from Neotopia."

"You guys make it sound like my Dimensional Transport Device is useless." Bell Wood said as he glared at the Gundams.

"It only teleported one out of how many bananas and rice balls?" Baku asked as he looked at the inventor.

"Well maybe it would have worked better if someone didn't trash some of my earlier work." Bell Wood countered as he looked at Bakunetsu.

"Oh mana…" The knight sighed as he shook his head, "Please, don't fight now. That is in the past, and you both have forgiven one another more times then I can count."

"Zero's right you guys. Beside, we have a party to go to later. You don't want Nana to see you upset do you?" Shute asked as he tried to calm the two friends.

"I guess you are right…" Baku said as he looked at Shute, "We don't want to ruin Nana's birthday."

Hyper Captain stared at the two large devices as the others started to walk away, a strange feeling over came him as he stood there. A feeling as if something was going to happen at the place that would change their lives overcame him and he took a step forward toward the device before he heard Shute call his name, drawing his attention away from it. He hurriedly ran back to the others as they left Kao Lyn there with the machine to do some final adjustments, and to attend the birthday party for the young Nana.

• * *

Crimson bowed before the large display screen in his quarters, a dark image on the monitor stared at him with glowing red eyes. The Descen tried to hide the shudder that ran through his body at the presence of his imposing master.

"Crimson, I am not pleased with the reports coming from your quadrant." The shadow figure said, "You have had more then enough time to bring the Northern and Southern continents under our control. If you do not start to show progress, I shall be forced to take action myself. Do you want me to do that?"

"No Commander, even if it would be an honor to see you in battle, I do not wish for you to trouble yourself with correcting my mistakes." Crimson said as he kept his head lowered.

"Would you care to explain why you are having so much difficulty with taking over this part of the world?" The Commander asked as he glared at the smaller mecha.

"The independent city states have joined together, and so have the roaming bandits to form a very large force that is equal in strength to my own forces." Crimson explained, "There is also a team of Gundam's here that have been giving me a great deal of trouble."

"Gundams?" The Commander seemed to perk at the mentioning of them, "You did not mention in your previous reports that there were Gundams, just that there was a Gundam."

Crimson paled as he seemed to shrink under the glare of the Neo-Axis Commander. "I am sorry Commander, I did not know that my reports were missing that detail. There are four Gundam's here, two of them are Gundam X units, and one of them is damaged but he seems to be the one that is the most trouble and the one that is the most experienced."

"What does this Gundam X look like?" The Commander asked, curiosity clear in his voice.

"He does not have the weapons backpack of a Gundam X, but he does have the beam rifle and beam saber of one. He is also missing his left arm and has a scar on the right side of his face and helmet." Crimson said as he kept his head lowered, noticing the long silence from his Commander as he described the Gundam. "I heard the others call him Lieutenant."

"I see… Then this delay is truly not of your doing." The Commander said as he stared down at the Descen, towering over him on the screen. "I shall be sending someone to aide you in this problem. Till they arrive I want you to hold off on attacking the enemy."

"Of course, as you wish Commander." Crimson bowed his head as the display shut off from the other mecha ending the transmission.

Crimson growled as he punched the floor in anger, "Those Gundams have made me look like a fool! I can't just sit here and wait for the reinforcements; I have to put an end to them as soon as possible. Then I can restore my honor and show the Commander what I am truly capable of!"

Sam yawned as she stretched after spending several long hours working on Lieutenant, the aged Gundam in a deactivated sleep mode to allow her to do the work that he requested. She rubbed her face tiredly to try and get the sleep out of her eyes, her work completed for the most part. Sam looked Lieutenant over as he laid on the work table, his armor fully repaired except for the scar that ran on the left side of his face which he asked to be left there. The weapon system for the Satellite cannon was no longer a part of his body, and in its place another system was installed that would allow him to use another weapon system that was found in the base along with other prototype designs and models. The new left arm of the Gundam sported the same look as his right, but with a new insignia on both of his shoulders that showed him to be a part of the Gaia Federation Forces Gundam Force.

Sam smiled as she looked at the eight pointed star with a set of wings behind it, and the GF of the Gaia Federation, a special crest that she made to resemble that of the original government forces that fought to protect the planet. She pressed a few buttons on the work bench and the end of it dropped down slowly to the floor as the other end lifted up before locking into place an angle that Lieutenant could easily step off of. She waited for a moment before Lieutenant awoke, his eyes flashing with several lines as his body reactivated from his charging cycle.

"Good morning sleepy head." Sam smiled as she looked at the Gundam, "I told you that I could have this done in one night didn't I?"

Lieutenant paused for a moment before he lifted his new left hand and looked at it as if inspecting it. He clenched his hand tight into a fist and then relaxed it with approval as he stepped off of the table and felt much lighter then he did before.

"You did some other modifications as well I see." Lieutenant said as he looked at Sam, the mechanic smiled as she scratched the back of her head, a slight blush to her face.

"I thought that you might need something to help you now that you no longer have the satellite systems power converter in you." Sam explained, "So I reinforced your frame around the chamber in your chest, and added a new smaller power system that will allow you to use a new weapon system that I created just for you."

Lieutenant eyed the mechanic curiously, "You made a new weapon system?"

Sam nodded as she brought Lieutenant over to one of her computers, and brought up a screen with an outline of him on it and the Re-Equip Arch as they have come to call it. It showed him standing in the middle of it as the arms attached a backpack with two beam sabers on it and two other flight thrusters that doubled as binders. The next two attachments were a shield almost as big as his body that showed it could open up into a multi-barreled beam weapon, as well as two powerful thrusters to aide in flight. On the other side was a twin barreled beam rifle that could be fired similar to a machine gun. All of the components linked together on his body and Lieutenant watched as it showed his name change on the display.

"Lieutenant Gundam X Divider?" Lieutenant questioned as he looked at the screen.

Sam nodded as she smiled, "I came up with the name because of the shield. I found it in one of the locked storage rooms of the base, it is apparently a prototype that was not deployed during the last war. It's called a "Divider" Shield, and inside is a weapon called the Beam Harmonica, which are 13 linked beam guns. The extra thrusters can be used in flight and also in jumps. The shield can be attached to your back pack when not in use so that you can have another hand free to use one of your beam sabers."

Lieutenant nodded with approval, "This might just come in handy if we are attacked by Neo-Axis forces in large numbers once more."

"That is what I thought as well." Sam said as she sat down in her chair, tired from working all night.

"You should rest Sam, you put in a long nights work." Lieutenant said, "I shall have something brought to you so you can eat."

"Thanks Lieutenant." Sam smiled as she relaxed a bit in her chair and watched the Gundam leave the room.

Sam closed her eyes and let out a sigh, glad for the rest and the break in the fighting that had been going on for two months. She started to drift off to sleep but was quickly awoken by the screaming of a young child. Sam sat straight up in her seat as the door to her work room flew open and the young Princess Mana ran in to hide behind her.

"Sam help! She's going to turn me into sushi!" Mana cried as she hugged her stuffed snow leopard and hid behind Sam like a child would their mother.

"What?" Sam asked as she looked at Mana and then heard a trembling growl from the door that caught her attention.

Sam tried not to laugh as she looked up and saw Burstmaru with ribbons and bows attached to her armor. The blue armored Gundam pointed one of her swords at Mana as the girl hid behind her chair, the action caused the princess to squeak with fear and duck out of sight.

"How dare you attempt to dress up my armor! I am not some kind of doll for you to play with!" Burst snapped as she stalked forward, "This is the last time that you are going to do such a thing to me, I shall not stand for this humiliation!"

"Calm down Burst." Sam said as she stood up and blocked the Gundamess' path, "Princess Mana is just a child, you shouldn't be chasing her around like this and scaring her with your swords."

"But she put ribbons and bows on me!" Burst protested as she stomped her foot, "I'm a warrior! I don't need such frilly things!"

"I just wanted to make you look pretty for Kitty." Mana said as she blushed and hugged her stuffed animal, "You are both so cute together."

Burst blushed as she took a step back in shock, "Wh-what!?"

"Princess Mana!" Leo shouted as he ran into the room and skidded to a stop behind Burst, the samurai jumped quickly around to face him as if he was a new threat, and the Knight Gundam stared at her oddly. "Burst… what are you wearing?"

"I didn't do this, it was your Princess." Burst said quickly as she took a step back from the knight, "You have to talk to her about other people's personal space. I do not appreciate others messing with my armor."

Leo tried not to laugh but failed as he pointed at Burst, "You look like one of those frilly things that the girls at that Football game wave around."

Burst paled for a moment before she flushed beet red and glared at the knight, "What did you say!? Are you calling me a Pom Pom?!"

Leo chuckled as he looked at her, "I am sorry Lady Burst, and I shall talk to the Princess about this. I assure you."

Sam sighed as she shook her head, "Okay, now that things are resolved, do you think that you three could leave my room so that I can get some rest?"

"Are you tired Miss Sam?" Mana asked as she walked around to face the older girl.

"Yes, I would like to get a little rest." Sam said, "I worked all night on Lieutenant to upgrade his systems and make some adjustments that he asked for."

"I see, then we shall leave you to your rest Lady Ashta." Leo said politely as he bowed, "Princess Mana, Lady Burst after you."

Burst grumbled a bit as she left the room, followed by Mana and Leo, the door closing behind them. Sam shook her head again as she sat back down in her chair, the door opening once more as Mana returned. The young princess ran up to Sam and gave her a hug quickly.

"Have a good nap Miss Sam." Mana smiled as she released her and took off out the door once more.

Sam chuckled as she leaned back in her chair, "She is a strange one, but her heart is in the right place."

The mechanic closed her eyes once more as she allowed herself a quick nap to make up for some of the sleep she missed. As Sam drifted off to sleep, she saw images of X as he fought against a strange group of attackers, one of them with large shoulders and the other very skinny and ghostly white. The pair seemed to surround the young Gundam and attacked him quickly, almost to fast for her to see. The young X shouted in pain as his armor seemed to explode from his body, and fell away in shards, the Gundam falling into a dark pit that shattered like a window. Sam's eyes flew open as she launched herself from her chair and gasped for breath.

"What was that?" Sam asked as she stood there in shock and held her head, "I must be overworking myself. That was a very strange dream."

An alarm sounded quickly that caused Sam to turn around and look at the small box mounted on the wall close to the ceiling, a red light on it activated as sound came from the box. "Attention, Neo-Axis forces spotted! All stations prepare for attack. Repeat, Neo-Axis forces spotted!"

Sam sighed as she ran for the door, "Looks like our break is over. Time to get back to work."

• * *

"SURPRISE!" Shute and the others shouted as Nana walked through the door of their home with Keiko, the young five year old blond almost fell over in shock from the amount of people in the house. "Happy Birthday Nana!"

"T-thank you." Nana said as she smiled happily.

"You see Nana, I told you that no one forgot that today was your birthday." Keiko said as she knelt down and rubbed her daughters back.

"Yeah, how could we forget about a day as important as this." Shute asked as he walked up to his sister and handed her one of the presents meant for her, "This is for you Nana."

Nana took the gift from Shute carefully and looked it over before she walked over to the large sofa seat in the living room. She jumped up onto it and scooted back till she was comfortable and set the box on her lap. Nana tugged on the red bow lightly to untie it and lifted the lid of the box to find a pair of inline skates similar to Shute's, only without all the advanced modifications. She blinked for a moment and then smiled as she kicked off her shoes and put the skates on, detaching them from the bottom of the shoes and reattaching them with their magnetic fasteners.

"Thank you so much Shute!" Nana cheered happily as she jumped off the sofa and skated over to her brother, hugging him as tight as she could. "These are great! Now I can keep up with you and Captain."

"Now Nana, you know there is no skating allowed in the house." Keiko scowled, but smiled as she saw how happy the young girl, "But I guess I can allow you to do so just for today. Just be careful not to knock anything over."

"I'll be careful mom." Nana chirped as she skated around happily and headed toward the other presents that were piled up, all of them from the different members of the Gundam Force and other friends.

Keiko smiled as she looked at the fun that everyone was having at the party, a large cake sat on the table made by Sayla especially for the occasion, decorated with flowers and strawberries on each of the five layers. As she looked around she noticed that one member of the family was missing and huffed as she knew exactly where her husband was. She shook her head as she headed to the part of the house that served as the studio to Marks recording work as an artist. Keiko paused as she reached the door and knocked on it softly before allowing herself in, finding the room empty. She shut the door quietly and walked over to a bookcase lined with different musical albums in several different mediums, ranging from vinyl records to mini-CD. Keiko pulled one of the records out and reached in the slot left to press a switch hidden behind it.

A circle in the middle of the floor opened up to reveal a hidden spiral staircase leading down into a hidden part of the house that only a few knew about. Keiko shook her head as she walked down the flight of stairs and saw a wall of monitor screens showing different views of the city as well as the project going on in the desert. Her husband Mark sat in a command chair as he looked at the screens, dressed in a light blue uniform with tasseled shoulders. Keiko smiled as she stood silently and watched him working, talking with Kao Lyn about the project that is underway.

"You know that you could at least take time off of this to go upstairs to your daughter's birthday party." Keiko said softly and caused her husband to jump to his feet in surprise.

"K-Keiko, what are you doing here?" He asked as he stared at her and tried to recover from his shock. "How did you know about this place?"

Keiko smiled as she walked up to Mark, "It wasn't that hard to find. You hid the switch behind an album that has our song on it. Not very smart, Chief Haro."

Mark blushed as he looked at her and looked around for his mask and helmet shaped like a Haro, finding it sitting by his command chair. "How long have you known that I was Chief Haro?"

"I was able to figure that how on how you both weren't at the same place at the same time." Keiko explained, "And you have the cologne on that I gave you, and since it is one that I made my self, that narrowed it down a lot."

Mark sulked a bit as his mistakes were pointed out to him, "So now what are you going to do?"

"No much, just going to tell you that you should come upstairs and at least take part in the party for Nana." Keiko smiled, "It won't kill you to let things go down here for a while on their own would it? It's not like something bad is going to happen."

"I guess you are right." Mark said as he hung his head and shook it slightly, "I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen though."

"Well it will have to wait another day, because right now you are going to get changed and go upstairs and enjoy the party." Keiko said as she walked around behind Mark and started to push him toward the stairs, "Come on, get moving you."

Crimson smiled as he stood on the hull of his ship and pointed toward the base the Gundams were using as the head of their operations, "Blast them to bits!"

The main cannon of the ship powered up to deliver another shot as the army of Neo Daughtress units poured out of the ship toward the small army of defenders. The remodeled bit mobiles with their new Gundam stylized heads and the A.I. of older Daughtress and Jenice units formed a defensive line with their shields and beam rifles, deflecting fire from the Neo-Axis units as well as they returned fire. The ships cannon fired its blast directly at the base and scored a hit to the reinforced wall, causing it to blacken as parts of it flaked away. The Neo-Axis army fired their forearm mounted beam weapons at the defense forces as they advanced, taking blows themselves till the targets of the mission appeared. The four Gundams launched from the main hanger of the base and engaged in battle at once, the sight of them turned Crimson's stomach.

Crimson jumped off of the ship and flew right at the elder Gundam as he noticed the new arm. "Looks like you had yourself repaired. No matter, you are still nothing compared to me old man!"

"Instead of talking you should concentrate on your surroundings!" Lieutenant snapped as he drew his beam saber and caught the Descen's own blade in a flash of light.

"What are you talking about?" Crimson asked, his answer came in the form of a kick from Burst as she knocked him away from Lieutenant.

"He meant me." Burst said as she hovered in place and spun her swords around quickly. "If you seek battle, then why don't you try me instead of him."

Crimson growled as he pulled out a compact beam rifle, "Shut up woman!"

Burst quickly knocked the shots from the beam rifle away with her swords as Crimson opened fire on her, the samurai not fazed by his retort concerning her gender.

"Do you think that you can handle him Burst?" Lieutenant asked as he watched the young Airmaster type Gundam.

"No problem, I have had tougher training sessions." Burst smiled as she took a step forward and continued to knock the shots away and into the ground.

"You dare mock me?" Crimson snarled, "You have no idea of what I am capable of little girl. So why don't you run back home and do the laundry."

"Why don't you make me!" Burst shouted as she knocked one of the shots back and hit Crimson in the hand to cause him to drop his weapon.

The Descen smiled as he drew his beam saber once more and charged at Burst, "I like you, maybe I shall ask the Commander if I can keep you as my own personal servant after I crush your pathetic band."

"Not on your life." Burst growled as she locked blades with Crimson and engaged in a duel with him.

As the two dueled one another, Sam looked on from the control room of the base along side her father at the progress that their forces were making against the large army of Neo-Axis. Sam looked down at one of the screens that displayed the status of the different Gundams, still amazed that such a system to keep track of such things worked at all. The outlines of each of the four Gundams were shown on the screen with data scrolling by of the temperature of each as well as the strain on their bodies as they fought. The hand of her father touching her shoulder brought her back to the present for a moment before she lowered her head back to look at the screen.

"What is the status of them?" Ran asked as he looked at his daughter.

"They are all showing in acceptable levels." Sam replied, "But I can't get over this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Just keep monitoring their status, that is all that you can do right now." Ran said as he tried to comfort her, but at the same time remain professional. "Armando, order the base gunnery crews to target that warship out there, I don't want to take any more damage from their main cannon."

"You got it boss. I mean, Admiral." The large heavy set man said as he turned back and adjusted his headset for his beard to relay the orders.

Ran turned back to look at the main screen that showed the battle, the large crimson land battleship only moved slightly to avoid the shots fired by the base's cannon's as it returned fire on anyone that got close to it. "That ship has a weak spot, if only we had more aerial units…"

Sam looked up at her father, "We do have the Airmaster Bit Mobiles still in storage. If Burst can activated them, she might be able to use them to attack the ship."

"That won't work." Ran shook his head, "Burst hasn't been trained to operate such things, and we don't know if she even can."

Ran stood there for a moment in thought, "I have something that might work. Sam, you have the con while I take care of things."

"M-Me?" Sam asked as she stared at her father, the man walked quickly away from her without a reply. "Great… what am I suppose to do now?"

A sudden alarm sounded from the screen and caught Sam's attention, making her look back at the Gundams status and see that Burst had suddenly fallen. "Burst!"

"You dirty snake!" Burst growled as she held onto her leg, with only one sword in her hand.

Crimson smiled as he looked down at the Gundam with his beam saber pointed at her, "Don't try to say that you wouldn't have done the same thing. Attacking the thruster units is perfectly fair, this is war after all."

Burst hissed with pain as she looked at her leg to see that her ankle was stabbed clean through, leaving a deep hole in her leg and her foot unable to move as well as disabling her thrusters. She looked back up as she saw the glow of the beam saber, Crimson motioned for her to keep looking at him as he smiled cruelly at her.

"You put up a decent fight Gundam, worthy of being noted in the history of whatever clan you serve in." Crimson said as he drew his saber back and held it with both hands, "But I am afraid that this is where your story ends."

"I don't think so!" Leo shouted as he tossed his ball mace at Crimson and caught the Descen in the side to knock him several yards from Burst. "Are you alright Lady Burst?"

Burst looked at the Knight Gundam and growled as he offered a hand toward her, "I'm fine. I didn't need your help; I had him right where I wanted him before you got in the way."

Leo stared at the samurai curiously, "That isn't what I saw, milady."

"I don't care what you saw." Burst said as she tried to stand only to fall back down to one knee in a shout of pain.

"Burst!" Leo said in concern as he reached for her only to be knocked away by a kick to his chest.

"Sneak up on me? That shall teach you." Crimson laughed as he flipped off of Leo's chest after the kick and landed between the two Gundams. "I'll finish you both off right here!"

Leo growled as he glared at Crimson, "That is what you think knave! You shall not see another sunrise; I swear it on the grave of Estardoth!"

Crimson smiled as he steadied himself, "Brave words Knight, and they shall be your last!"

An explosion behind Crimson stopped him in his attack as he spun around to see the source, a section of his ship was in flames and the main cannons died down. The two Gundams and the Descen looked at the ship in shock for a moment before they heard the sound of an engine above them and looked up. A small biplane with laser rifles strapped to the wings flew over head quickly as it came around for another attack run on the ship, the rifles fired together and danced over the armor of the land battleship. Crimson growled as he stared at the plane and looked around for his beam rifle, finding it a short distance away.

"I'm going to put an end to that annoying little pest." Crimson said as he dove for his weapon and picked it up, aiming it at the small plane. "Filthy human! I'll teach you to blast holes in my ship!"

"Admiral!" Leo shouted out in warning as he charged Crimson in an attempt to keep the Descen from firing.

The beam leapt forth from Crimson's rifle and raced toward the plane, the sight caused the Descen to smile. As the beam raced towards the plane, the pilot snapped it quickly into a rolling dive to avoid the shot and turned toward Crimson, letting a stream of fire down toward the Descen. Leo quickly jumped to the side with his hover units as the beams scored the ground and carved into the shoulder armor of the red unit. Crimson howled in pain as he stood up from the ground, his beam rifle clutched in his hand still.

"How could he have known to move then?" Crimson asked as he tried to regain his balance, "He's just a human!"

Burst smiled as she looked up and caught a glimpse of Ran piloting the plane as he came around again for another attack run on the battleship. "That is more then just a human. That is Admiral Ran; he is the leader of our combined forces."

Crimson growled, "It doesn't matter who he is… You are all going to die shortly, by my hands!"

Leo charged at the Descen as he brought the rifle up and aimed it at Burst, the knight moved into the path of the muzzle as it fired and took the full force of the beam in his chest.

"Leo!" A trio of voices rang out, two from inside the base and one from outside as the knight Gundam stood there with his arms held out and his chest smoking from the blast.

"You call that a beam rifle?" Leo smirked as he laughed for a moment before he fell to his knees in pain.

"Leo!" Burst cried as she stumbled to the Knight and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Humph!" Crimson said as he looked at the pair, "Isn't this a cute couple. A Samurai and a Knight, you two are so out classed that it isn't funny. I'll just put you both out of your misery now."

"N-not a chance!" Leo said as he pulled a beam knife from his leg and slashed at the rifle, his blade cut the weapon in half and caused Crimson to drop it as he jumped back.

The weapon exploded with enough force that it sent Leo and Burst flying back onto the ground, both of them knocked out by the blast. Crimson shook his head for a moment as he looked at the two Gundam's, a smile crept across his face as he stared at the pair. He turned away from them and scanned the battle around him as he searched for the other two. Crimson was quickly rewarded as he spotted both Lieutenant and X battling several Neo Daughtress units in an attempt to drive them back from the defense line.

"Two down, only two more to go and then the Commander will have no choice but to recognize my strength." Crimson said as he drew his beam saber and stalked toward the two Gundams. "I shall send both of those relics to the scrap pile!"

"Burst! Leo!" Sam cried as she looked at the screen and the monitor displaying their status.

"Kitty is hurt." Mana said as she stood beside Sam, the young princess hugged her stuffed snow leopard tightly as she looked at Sam. "I can feel it, he is hurt."

"It's alright Mana, I'm going to get someone to help him and Burst as soon as I can." Sam said as she looked at the young girl as her eyes teared.

"We need more help…" Sam and Mana both thought at the same time as they looked at the battle.

* * *

Kao Lyn jumped back from the equipment he had been checking as they sparked to life before him, he turned his head quickly to look at the arch and saw blue bolts of energy dancing in it. "Oh dear… Oh me… this, this is not good! Not good at all!"

He looked back at the equipment to see that the readings were fluctuating wildly, a sight that puzzled even him. "I should contact Chief Haro at once! It's happening! At least I think it is."


	7. Chapter 7

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Seven****  
**_**"Through the Looking Glass; New Heroes Arrive!"**_

"Chief Haro!" Kao Lyn shouted over the video communications screen, and caused Julie to almost jump back in surprise. "We have a situation here!"

"Calm down Professor. The Chief isn't here right now, can you tell me what the problem is?" Julie asked as she resumed her station on the new S.D.G. base, the hand shaped base of operations for the Gundam Force as well as the defense forces of Earth that seemed to float in the sky.

"The equipment is reading levels off the scales." Kao Lyn reported, "I think that a new vortex is going to form or something is going to happen here. I have never seen readings like this before."

"Okay, I'll have the Chief updated as soon as I can and will send Hyper Captain and the others to try and help secure the area." Julia said as she lowered her visor and started to enter commands into the computer.

As Julie entered the commands the watch on Mark's wrist flashed as he attended the party, the flashing of the time piece caught not only his attention by Keiko's as well. Mark looked at his watch as if to check the time and then looked at his wife as he felt her hand on his arm, the dark haired woman sighed as she closed her eyes and nodded. Mark nodded back at her before he left her side and walked up to Nana, the young girl happily enjoying her time with everyone at the party.

"Hey there kiddo," Mark started as he leaned down to look at Nana. "I have to go take care of something, are you sure that you will be able to handle things at the party and keep your brother in line?"

Nana looked hurt for a moment as she listened to he father, but nodded as she smiled. "I'll make sure Shute keeps out of trouble daddy."

"That's my girl." Mark smiled as he ruffled his daughter's hair a bit before getting up and leaving the house for the hidden back door that led to his studio and his secret observation room.

"Captain," Julie's voice said over the communications line that caused the Gundam's golden V fin to flash. "There is a priority situation near the experimental site. Please go and assist in securing the area."

"Affirmative," Hyper Captain said as he turned to look at Nana. "I am sorry, but I have to go attend to other duties."

"Aw, do you have to go Captain?" Nana asked as she looked at the Gundam.

Hyper Captain nodded, "I have no choice. This is a priority situation, which means that I have to stop what I am doing and report at once."

"Then we should come along as well." Shute said as he looked at his friend, "We are members of the Gundam Force too."

"That's right." Bakunetsumaru nodded, "Besides, that is where the Dimensional Transport Device is. We can't let that get damaged by… What are we defending it from?"

"I don't know, but it must be serious to recall us." Hyper Captain asserted as he looked at everyone.

Nana sighed as she looked down for a moment only to lift her head as she heard a poofing sound and saw a rose being offered to her by the Winged Knight.

"Cry not fair maiden, we shall return shortly to continue the celebration of your special day." Zero said as he handed the rose to Nana, the young girl smiled at him as she took it gently from his hand.

"Thank you Zero," Nana said as she hugged the knight and caught him off guard. "Be careful."

"Uhm, yes, I shall milady." Zero blushed as he finally got out of the hug and joined the other members of the Gundam Force at the front door.

"We'll be back as soon as we can." Shute said as he hurried out with the others and left the other guests to wonder what was going on that would require the elite group.

Nana thought for a moment before she hopped out of her seat and walked over to Keiko, tugging on her mother's shirt. "Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay, you go right ahead then dear. I'll keep everyone busy while you are gone," Keiko smiled as she watched her daughter run off to the bathroom down the hall. "She's growing up so fast."

"What is the situation?" Chief Haro asked as he walked up to Kao Lyn, the shorter man seemingly flailed his arms at the keyboard before him to enter commands.

"It's not good, the energy is increasing and it is like time and space itself is being distorted inside the arch." Kao Lyn explained, "I can't find the cause of it at all."

"Do you think that it might be because we finally activated this?" Chief Haro asked as he looked at the arch, bolts of energy shot across between the space and left a blue hue in its wake and a rippled effect in the air.

"If that were the case then it would have appeared as soon as we turned it on, not hours later." Bell Wood stated as he rushed to help Kao Lyn, the other members of the Gundam Force arrived promptly with him.

"I see." Chief Haro looked down for a moment then turned to face the gathered Gundams, not at all surprised to see Shute there as well. "Captain, I want to make sure that this area is secure. We don't yet know the full effect that this vortex will have on Neotopia."

"Understood." Hyper Captain nodded as he took off in one direction with Shute and the other two Gundams went in the opposite direction.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Shute asked as he looked at Captain and kept up with him on his rocket powered skates.

"I am not sure, but if the theories are correct then this could act like the Zakorello Gate and something might come through it." Hyper Captain stated, "We must determine if it is friendly or not Shute."

"I hope that if anything does come through that it will be friendly." Shute said as he looked at the glowing archway.

As Shute finished his statement, the archway glowed brightly with blue energy before it shot out toward him and the Gundam's surrounding it. A sphere of energy enveloped the Gundam force as the concussion blast knocked Chief Haro and Kao Lyn away from where they stood, the blast enveloped the small control stand that Bell Wood stood on in a flash. The sphere of energy rippled brightly as it took up much of the area around the testing ground. Finally the ball of energy faded, leaving a large hole in the ground and the machinery of the archway fell into it with a mighty crash, breaking the arch and the supports. Chief Haro raced to the edge of the crevice and looked down in horror to see nothing but glass covered ground and no trace of the Gundam Force or Shute.

"What happened?" Chief Haro asked, his question more a demand as he turned to look at Kao Lyn for answers.

"I-I'm not sure." Kao Lyn replied as he looked at the devastation from the sphere. "I've never seen anything like that before. We should get back to Blanc Base, and see if we can find them with the equipment there."

Chief Haro nodded reluctantly, "I'll have a team sent out here as well to further secure the area. I just hope that we can find them."

"GRAWH!" X shouted as he was knocked away from Crimson, the Descen having turned his attention to him and Lieutenant.

"You call yourselves Gundam's?" Crimson mocked as he looked at the young Gundam X, the mech sparking from the damage inflicted to him. "You are nothing more then legend and fairy tales from what I have seen here today."

Lieutenant growled as he swung his beam saber at the red unit, the other robot jumped back and countered with his own blade. The two energy beams clashed brightly in the waning light of the day, the battle for the base entering the twilight hours of dusk.

"Attacking those that can no longer protect themselves, that is beyond any type of contempt." Lieutenant said as he pushed Crimson back, both of their blades flashed and erupted with power as they struck against one another time and time again, both proving to be master swordsmen.

"What does it matter as long as the strong survive." Crimson countered as he kicked Lieutenant to knock him several feet back and launched another attack on the Gundam. "If you are not able to defend yourself or fight, then you should not exist in this world!"

"Everyone deserves the chance to live, no one has the right to make the choice as to who lives and who dies." Lieutenant said as he blocked the blade once more and pushed Crimson back as an explosion sounded in the air above them.

The crackling of energy caused a pause in the fighting among the regular forces, while Lieutenant and Crimson continued to battle one another. A large sphere of energy swelled in the sky and shot bolts of blue lightning from it as it grew larger. The two battling forces moved away from under the sphere as it suddenly exploded and dropped what ever contents it held like a piñata stuck by a stick. A trio of Gundams fell from the sky quickly along with a boy and a large amount of soil and rocks, the young teen was captured easily by the Gundam closest to him as they fell. The group used the rocks falling with them to help spring board themselves to safety as they landed on the ground.

"A battle?" Bakunetsumaru said as he drew his blades and looked around him at the wounded mech's scattered about, all of them of alien design to him. "What kind of place is this?"

"I don't know, but it does look like they need some help." Zero hovered over the ground as he looked around him, finally spotting the wounded Leo close to Burst. "A Knight and a Musha?"

"Captain?" Shute asked as he looked at the Gundam, Captain looked out over everything that was going on and spotted the wounded X close to the dueling pair of Lieutenant and Crimson. "Where are we? What's going on?"

"I do not know Shute." Captain surmised as he looked at the battle, "But they are in need of our assistance."

Shute nodded as he looked at everything going on around him and at the fighting pair that Captain seemed to be interested in as well. "Alright, let's go!"

Lieutenant cut his eyes at the newcomers to the battle, and wondered if they were friend or foe as the human and strangely equipped Gundam raced toward him and the other two took positions quickly. Crimson smiled as he pushed against Lieutenant's blade, the beams of energy crackled and hissed as the Descen's optic glowed.

"It would seem that the reinforcements that I was told about are here." Crimson boasted as he glared at the Gundam. "My master has a way of making entrances showy, so I'm not surprised that he would send them like this."

"Reinforcements?" Lieutenant asked as he dug his feet into the ground, "So they are with you."

"Why else would someone come into this battle?" Crimson chuckled, "It isn't like the other nations of this world are going to come running to your aide. Why defend these people when they would so quickly abandon you."

"You're wrong about the people of this world, and you are wrong about your reinforcements!" Lieutenant shouted as he kicked up a cloud of dust to blind Crimson for a moment and allowed him to deliver a hard right hook to the Descen's face.

Crimson reeled from the blow and turned his head in shock to see a human running towards him, the teen pulled what looked like a beam saber handle out from his backpack and pointed it at him. "What!?"

Several shots of transparent green goo shot out of the handle to land on the feet of the Descen, as well as one hitting him in the head with enough force to knock him down. To Crimson's shock, his feet did not move as he fell back and forced his knees to bend as his back hit the ground. Crimson growled with rage as the struggled to get up and shut his beam saber off to avoid injuring himself. He looked around from his vantage point to see the Knight Gundam hovering in the air, a red cape billowed behind him in the wind as the stranger looked around him.

"Oh mana," Zero spoke and called forth a mystical glowing compass above his head with strange runic symbols that allowed a sword and shield to drop into his waiting hand. "Of all the power in the universe, by your contract with this Winged Knight, please give me your power now! Super Ultra-powerful Violet Tordado!"

A swirling wind storm of violet rose petals formed from Zero's sword and raced down toward the ranks of Neo Axis soldiers to pluck them from the ground with ease. The tornado raged on as it cut a trough through the line of attackers before it deposited a number of them in a pile on the ground. The few soldiers that could stand staggered dizzily before they collapsed like a row of dominoes. Satisfied with the attack, Zero turned his attention toward another part of the battle.

Crimson growled as he turned his eyes away from the knight and saw the musha Gundam that was surrounded by a number of his forces. He smiled as he thought of what they would do to the samurai. The Gundam held his swords firmly in his grasp as he looked around him in his red armor.

"You dare to challenge me? Fine then, you shall be defeated by me, Bakunetsumaru, the Blazing Samurai of Ark! Secret Arts!" Bakunetsumaru shouted as he moved his swords in a circle, drawing mystical orbs in the air that called forth his powerful warrior spirit. "Baku Netsu… Tenkyo-Ken!"

Crimson's optic widened as he saw the samurai slash the air before him and spun around once more to perform the move. A flaming X tore through the ranks of soldiers around him, decimating those around him unlucky to be caught in the attack. Crimson finally pulled himself up to his feet as he looked at the devastation caused by just the two Gundam's to his forces and how the base defenders seemed to be regaining their spirit to fight. He shook with rage as he reignited his beam saber and stabbed it into the ground to cut holes around his feet to free himself. Crimson tore himself free from the ground only to be met by the sight of the third Gundam to have appeared. The tall Gundam with white, blue, red, and gold armor looked at him with burning optics as he pulled his fist back.

"A punch?" Crimson laughed, "You're special attack is a punch?"

"Soul Drive, Activate." Hyper Captain said as he launched himself forward, his fist glowed brightly as he pulled it back more and threw it forward with the aide of thrusters built into the back of his arm.

Crimson gasped as Captain's fist slammed into his gut and lifted him off of his feet, he hung in the air for what seemed like the longest minute in his life but was in reality only a split second before he was launched back several meters to land on his back. He gasped and wheezed as he struggled to pick himself up, his body sparked with the damage done from the single punch by the Gundam. Crimson got shakily on his feet as he looked at Hyper Captain, the fist of the Gundam still glowed brightly as a fire of dangerous determination burned in his eyes. Crimson took a step back as he continued to look at Hyper Captain, his single optic shifted to look at the other two Gundams that had appeared, as well as the human. A rage built up inside of him as he stared all four down with his optic.

"All units! Fall back at once!" Crimson shouted as he quickly leapt into the air and fired a set of thrusters in his back to aide him in his flight from the battle. "You win this time Gundams! But I shall be back, and you shall be destroyed!"

Lieutenant stood there for a moment as he watched the enemy units flee, before his eyes shifted to look at the new Gundams and human that appeared. His eyes met Hyper Captain's as they stared at one another for the longest time, and Lieutenant felt something strange come over him as they did.

The base defenders gathered around them with their weapons still at the ready, unsure what to make of the new arrivals as they kept their weapons trained on them. Lieutenant shut his beam saber off as he motioned for the others to lower their weapons as well, not breaking eye contact with Captain as he did.

"I don't know who you are, but you have my thanks." Lieutenant said as he looked at the four before he turned to the Freeden's defense forces. "Get any and all wounded to the repair bays, along with any enemy units that you find. I want them treated just as you would treat a member of our forces that are hurt."

Lieutenant turned to look at Hyper Captain and the others once more as the others carried out his orders, "I imagine that the Admiral would like to have a talk with you when he lands, so if you don't mind I shall have you escorted into the base. But I will have to ask you to surrender your weapons first."

"What?" Bakunetsumaru asked as he glared at Lieutenant, "We help you and now you want us to give you our weapons!"

"Understood." Hyper Captain said as he nodded, "You don't know who we are and it would not be wise to allow us into your base armed. We would do the same if our positions were reversed."

"Indeed." Zero nodded in agreement as he cut his eyes at Bakunetsumaru, "We do not want to cause any trouble. At least I can speak for myself and Captain, as well as Shute, but I do not know of a certain Musha Gundam."

"I can behave myself better then you can knight of Lacroa!" Bakunetsu huffed as he sheathed his swords and handed them both over to the nearest soldier. "Take care of them, they are sacred swords and I will want them back without a-"

Bakunetsu stopped in mid-sentence as a small arrangement of flowers appeared on the tip of his finger as he held it up in warning at the soldier. He growled as he turned around to face Zero, the knight looked away as if he had not done anything.

"ZERO!" Bakunetsu shouted as he started toward the knight only to have Shute appear in front of him and put both hands on his shoulders to try and hold him back.

"Come on you two, knock it off!" Shute pleaded as he looked at Bakunetsu and over his shoulder at Zero, especially not wanting trouble in their current situation.  
"I can assure you that your weapons will be cared for." Lieutenant said as he motioned for the units taking the weapons to lead them into the base. "I shall join you shortly. I have to take care of my team first."

* * *

"Have you found anything yet?" Chief Haro asked as he looked at Kao Lyn and the large bank of computers that the scientist and inventor had been working at for the past several hours.

"I'm afraid that what I have found isn't very useful." Kao Lyn replied, the man's usual cheerful mood replaced with one of sadness and confusion. "I was able to salvage information from the computers that were monitoring the event, but they just show what we were seeing at the site."

"Anything could be useful." Chief Haro said as he looked at the monitor screen. "What do you know so far?"

"So far we know that the vortex is exactly that and has properties that match with the Zakorello Gate, only it is more unstable." Kao Lyn explained, "That is why it reacted so violently and was as large as it was. Captain and the others were the closest to the vortex, so when it expanded it enclosed them in its bubble, and when it collapsed in on itself it took them with it back to where it originated from."

"Do you know where it came from?" Chief Haro asked hopefully.

Kao Lyn shook his head slowly, "I'm afraid not… I wish that I could."

Chief Haro sighed as he turned away for a moment and took a few steps to recollect himself before he turned back to Kao Lyn. "We can assume that they are out of range of our communications system since we are unable to detect or make contact with them. We can try to boost the power to our communications to see if we can reestablish contact."

"That might work, but we don't know how far out of range they are." Kao Lyn said as he looked at the Haro helmeted man, and quickly read the pain hidden under the green shell. "But it is better then doing nothing. I'll start to work right away."

"Thank you Kao Lyn." Chief Haro sighed as he turned away and headed out of the research room of the Blanc Base.

"Chief!" Juli called as soon as the doors shut behind him, "I'm glad that I found you."

"What is it?" Chief Haro asked as he looked at the black haired woman in a blue and white SDG uniform, the woman almost out of breath from running to him from the command center.

"There is a call for you, it's from Keiko." Juli explained quickly, the tone in her voice told Haro that it must be important.

"Thank you Juli, I'll take the call in my office." Chief Haro said quickly as he headed down the hall toward one of the elevators. "What could be so important that Keiko would call me here? I haven't even told her about Shute yet… Could she somehow already know?"

"I'm not sure that I understand everything that you are telling me." Ran said as he looked at the trio of Gundam's before him and the teenage boy. "Some how that large ball in the sky that appeared dropped you here from another place?"

"That is correct." Hyper Captain nodded, "From my observations of the star constellations, as well as the air quality have led me to conclude that there is a 99.9% probability that we are no longer on Earth."

"But if we are no longer on Earth, then where are we?" Shute asked as he looked at Captain, partly worried but also excited about possibly starting another adventure.

"I can not determine that at this time Shute." Hyper Captain replied and saw the confused look on the elder human's face as the man looked at the group.

"Great… so now we have an alien human and three alien Gundams." Ran sighed as he held his head, "This is shaping out to be a very strange day. I didn't walk into a science fiction film did I?"

"I know that it is hard to believe, but… you have to believe us! It's the truth!" Shute said quickly, "We don't know how we got here exactly. One moment we were standing outside looking at a vortex, and then we were falling from the sky and landed right in the middle of a battle outside this place. . . Where are we exactly?"

"This is Freeden Base." Sam offered as she walked through the door and set a tray of food down on the table in the room along with drinks.

"Sam, I thought that I told you that you weren't allowed in here." Ran scolded his daughter as he looked at her.

Sam smiled as she ignored her father for a moment, "I thought that you might be hungry and thirsty after the fight that you had, so I brought something for you."

"Free food?" Bakunetsu blinked for a moment as he looked at the plate of food, "Thank you!"

"Hey!" Zero shouted as the samurai started to dig into the plate of food as if he had not eaten in days. "You have to share that you know! Really, where are your manners Bakunetsumaru!"

Sam chuckled as she watched the knight and samurai bicker over the food, "It's alright dad. Something about them put me in mind of our own team of Gundams, and I think that we can trust them."

Ran stared at his daughter for a moment before he sighed, the young teen showed the same steadfastness that her mother possessed. "In that case I shall trust your judgement. How are the others doing?"

"They are all doing well, and are curious about our new guests as well." Sam said and took a step away from the door to allow the four resident Gundam's of the base to file in, the arrival of the four caused both Zero and Bakunetsu to settle down and stare at the group.

"I am sure that you are just as curious about us as we are of you, and since we know a bit about you, now it is time for us to introduce ourselves more formally." Ran said as he looked at the Gundam Force, "I am Admiral Ran Ashta, the commander of this base and of the combined forces of this area. This is my daughter, Master Machinists Sam Ashta; Lieutenant Gundam X, leader of our Gaian Gundam Force; Leo, The Iron Knight of Estar; Burstamaru, of the Sou Clan; and Ensign Gundam X, or simply X."

"It is nice to meet you." Shute said as he stood up from the table, "I'm Shute, a member of the Gundam Force in Neotopia; Zero, the Winged Knight of Lacroa; Bakunetsumaru, the Blazing Samurai of Ark; and Hyper Captain Gundam, the leader of our Gundam Force and also from Neotopia."

"I thank you again for your help in the latest battle against our enemy." Lieutenant said as he looked at the three Gundams and Shute. "We would not have been able to win this battle if it were not for your arrival."

"Don't say that Lieutenant!" X said as he looked at his commanding officer, the younger Gundam quickly silenced himself as he bowed, "I mean! I'm sorry Lieutenant sir, I didn't mean to say that. Please forgive me."

Lieutenant nodded as he looked at the younger Gundam X, "It is alright X, there is nothing to fear about these strangers. If they had meant us harm they would have done so already."

"We do not wish to fight you." Hyper Captain said, "It would not be wise to do so when we have so many questions that need answers, just as you do about us. Can you tell us about this enemy that you are fighting against?"

"They are nothing but cowardly dogs!" Leo snapped, his normal knightly manner shed in the outburst. "They are responsible for the destruction of my beloved kingdom that has forced myself and Princess Mana from our homeland with their dark magic."

"Dark magic?" Zero asked as he looked at fellow knight, "Princess Mana?"

"They are also responsible for the death of my master." Burst said as she shook with rage, "My clan was almost completely wiped out in the attack, and so far I am the only one known to have survived. They took over everything that we protected, and now twist the land into their own war machine and base of operations for the area."

Bakunetsu remained quiet as he stared at Burst and picked up on the anger inside of her, her rage strikingly familiar to him.

"Right now we are holding off the attacks by the forces of Neo Axis as we try to build more support and defensive lines." Lieutenant explains, "Right now only this northern area is secure, but as you have seen for yourselves, we are constantly in a struggle to keep their forces from gaining a foot hold."

"Neo Axis?" Shute asked and looked at Hyper Captain as a pang of horror filled him, "You don't think that it could be-?"

"I do not know Shute, but it would not be impossible." Hyper Captain interrupted as he answered the teens question before he finished it. "The Dark Axis were capable of traveling dimensions, and with this planet unlike any we have been to, it is possible that we are in another dimension that they visited and we were not able to liberate due to it being unknown to us."

"Dark Axis? What are you talking about? Dimensions?" Ran asked as he looked at the group.

"Oh!" Shute turned his attention back to Ran, "The Dark Axis was a group that threatened all our homes. They were led by a large, huge mech named General Zeong, and he wanted to destroy everything. But thanks to Hyper Captain, Bakunetsumaru, and Zero, we were able to defeat him and his armies."

"I don't think that this is the same group." Ran shook his head, "But we won't be able to tell till we find out more about them. We'll tell you as much as we know about Neo Axis, as well as try and figure out what exactly is going on here. Till then you are all welcome here as our guests."

* * *

"Cursed Gundams." Crimson gasped and coughed as he lay on a repair table, his body being repaired from the damage by the single punch of Hyper Captain. "I shall have vengeance on them all! I swear it!"

"Oh please, you would have better luck killing flies then defeated the Gundams." A voice said from the darkness that caused the Descen to sit up and sent sparks through his body. "Don't move to quickly now, you are in no condition for doing that."

"Who are you?" Crimson asked as a V shaped visor glowed in the darkness of the room.

"Who am I?" The voice chuckled as its owner stepped out of the shadows to show her slender white form, her body looking almost like a human child's in its thinness. A strange Gundam like face covered by a visored helmet looked back at him as the strange unit stalked closer. "I was sent here to help you. But after seeing how you fight, I think that you are beyond help. The Master would be very displeased to know that you defied his orders and wasted our resources on such a pathetic attempt of an attack."

Crimson growled as he looked at her, "I'm going to ask this again… Who are you?"

"I already told you." She replied as she hooked a finger under Crimson's chin and leaned closer to him. "I have been sent to help you. Who do you think I am?"

"That is enough toying with him Correl." Another voice form the shadows said as a large shouldered orange and black form that looked like a deformed aircraft stepped into the light. "It is obvious that he is not as smart as the Master had hoped, and I can only hope that it won't hinder us in our mission."

"You are the reinforcements that I was suppose to get?" Crimson said as he looked at the two strange units, both of them unfamiliar to him in what they were.

"Aw, you are just now figuring that out?" Correl chuckled as she slinked around Crimson, "Britova is right about you, you aren't that bright at all. But don't worry, I'll help you dear."

Crimson blushed lightly as he felt the arms of Correl, as they wrapped around his shoulders in a hug from behind. "What do you mean?"

"Just that we have something in mind that will help you get what you want the most… Vengence on those that hurt you." Correl whispered into Crimson's audio sensor, "But if you aren't interested, then we could go elsewhere and do what we were sent to do without you."

"What do you have in mind?" Crimson asked as he looked over his shoulder at the white unit.

Britova smiled as he lowered his head and kept his eyes in the shadows, as well as his thoughts. "Something that shall be a good welcoming present for our new guests. A perfect way to welcome some new hero's."

"I'm still not sure what you mean?" Crimson said as he looked at Britova.

"In every epic tale of a hero, there is a defining moment for them where they commit themselves to their goal to thwart their enemies and bring them to justice." Britova explained as he walked forward and showed a silvery cord from his wrist that held something behind him in the shadows that he tugged forward into the light. "Would it not be fitting that we give these new hero's such a moment by baptizing them with the blood of innocence?"

Crimson's optic widened as he saw what was at the other end of the wire, a cruel smile spread across his lips as he chuckled painfully. "Yes… that would be a good gift for them."

The pair of humans held tight by a coil of wire connected to Britova stood there tiredly, the shortest of the pair looked up with blue eyes at the dark skinned boy worriedly as he looked down at her. Nana swallowed a lump in her throat as she caught on to what the three were talking about, and berated herself for reading her older brothers manga, as well as having followed him to the testing site out of curiosity. She jumped slightly as she felt something touch her hand, and looked up once more to see the tall haired boy looking back at her with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Nana." Bell Wood said as he held the girls hand, "This will all be over before you know it, and we will be back at your folk's house faster then you can say peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

Nana smiled slightly as she squeezed Bell Wood's hand, "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…"


	8. Chapter 8

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Eight****  
**_**"Secrets of the Soul Drive."**_

Shute looked around himself in wonder at the sights of the base, the corridors freshly remodeled and repaired to a condition that made it look almost brand new once more. His green eyes widened every once in a while when he saw some of the strange looking mobile citizens that were converted from non-AI programmed bit mobile units for the Gundams, all of them looking like less heavily armed Gundams with their new head designs.

"This place is amazing!" Shute said as he turned around and looked at their escort, the brown haired girl smiled back at him. "It's almost like the Blanc Base, only it's on the ground."

"Actually it is built into this mountain, so we are underground." Sam corrected him with a smile. "The base was made to withstand a nuclear attack, so it extends far under the surface. These upper levels are the only ones that we have in service so far, but we are slowly going down into the lower levels to repair systems and also finding new areas that were shut down after the end of the war."

"I am curious, what is this war that I keep hearing about milady?" Zero asked as he looked at Sam, "I have heard several others around the base mention it as well while you have been escorting us."

"It was called the 7th Space War, and it happened before I was born and ended shortly before then." Sam explained, "I'm not exactly sure about all the details about it, but it was a battle between Gaia and the space colonies. The war ended when there was a massive colony drop that almost wiped out all life on the planet, and left it in the condition that it is now. This base survived some how, even if it was abandoned, and is where I found X."

"What is a colony drop?" Shute asked puzzled by the term.

Sam sighed as she continued to walk, "It is when you drop a space colony onto the surface of the planet. In the final battle the Dark Cirrus forces dropped a large number of colonies onto Gaia in a final act of desperation to try and win. Gaia is still recovering from the attack, and my dad showed me a map of the planet before and after the colony drop. It looked like someone punched holes in all the continents."

"But why would they do such a thing?" Hyper Captain asked, "It wouldn't seem logical to wipe out the planet where you are originated from."

"I don't know." Sam replied, "I guess that they felt that it was the only way to end the war, and to defeat the Gaia Force's Government. Since the end of the war there has been no contact with the colonies, at least till Neo Axis attacked. There are no forces like them anywhere on the planet, so we can only assume that they have come from space."

"I think that it is too much of a coincidence that their name is similar to that of the Dark Axis." Bakunetsu said as he tagged along, "That one red guy looked similar to a Zako, only a bit more fancier."

"I don't know what a Zako is, so I wouldn't be able to tell." Sam said as she stopped at a door and slid a keycard into a slot to unlock it, handing the card to Shute. "These shall be your quarters while you stay with us, it isn't much, but it is the best that we could do. We weren't exactly expecting guests to just drop by."

"Oh, yeah… I guess I can understand that." Shute said as he scratched the back of his head. He looked into the room and almost fell over backwards as he saw the large amount of space in it with two bunk beds and a computer consol built into two desks on the side wall, with another door leading into a bathroom. A large monitor between the two bunk beds on the wall showed a spinning symbol of the Gaia Forces. "This looks big enough to be a hotel suite!"

"It's just one of the standard rooms that we have for soldiers." Sam explained, "You can use the monitor to view the outside of the base, and the Admiral has allowed you access to our data files on the computer so that you can find out more information about us. He would be grateful if you could enter information on your own worlds as well, as part of an information exchange."

"Thank you." Shute said as he wondered around the room a bit and looked it over, "And thank you for a tour of the base Miss Sam."

"You can just call me Sam." She smiled at him as she moved to the door, "Don't wonder around the base without your keycard, you don't want to get locked out of your room."

"Right." Shute said as he put the keycard into his pocket and patted it, "I'll keep a hold of it."

Zero waited till Sam left the room to let out a sigh, "This world is most troubled, it is as if I can feel it through every part of my body. The mana of this world is screaming in pain from all the wars that have taken place on it."

"It kind of reminds me of home." Bakunetsu said as he walked over to the monitor on the wall and pressed a button to activate it, calling up a view of the exterior of the base. The camera showed the view looking over the mountains and the forest going to the city. "This is a world of warriors and battle. There must be many honorable fighters here."

"I think that this place is very tired of war." Hyper Captain said as he walked over to one of the computers and activated it. He sat down before the device and called up information quickly after he took a moment to figure out how the computer was archived.

"What are you doing Captain?" Shute asked as he walked over to the Gundam and looked over his shoulder at the computer screen.

"I am attempting to learn more about this planet and our friends." Hyper Captain answered as he typed in a few more commands and called up a time line of the computer archives. "It appears that there is a fifteen year gap in the history of this planet since what I belive is the end of the war and now. Which would support that his base was abandoned for that length of time."

"I think that we can trust Sam, she doesn't seem like she would lie to us about anything." Shute said as he looked at the information as Hyper Captain called it up, "Wow, look at all the Gundams!"

The computer screen filled with a report of the different Gundam units that were or to be built during the war, showing only four active units with several more in reserve. Captain called up the information on all of the Gundams, three of them showing clearly as GL-01 Gundam Leopard, GA-01 Gundam Airmaster, GX-01 Gundam X and a forth unit called GB-01 Gundam Belphagor which showed corrupted or classified data that they could not access. Captain typed into the computer to allow for tracking and the computer showed that it could only detect three, with two being deactivated and the third close by. The door to the room slid open to reveal the Gundam X unit that it had detected, the battle scared Gundam stepped into the room uninvited and looked at everyone before he turned his attention to Hyper Captain.

"I have something that I would like to discuss with you, alone." Lieutenant said as he stared at Hyper Captain, his tone did not sit well with the others in the room.

"If you have something to say to Captain, then you are going to have to say it with us here." Shute said defiantly as he looked at Lieutenant.

Lieutenant shot Shute a glare for a moment before he stepped further into the room and the door closed behind him. "Very well, since you are both from the same world then I do not seem any harm in it. You are also his human companion, so it would not be good to keep have him keep something from you and harm your bond."

"What is it that you want to discuss?" Hyper Captain asked as he looked at Lieutenant.

"When we first met, I felt something strange about you, but it was something familiar as well." Lieutenant said as he looked at Captain, "I just came to ask if you felt something as well. Something that felt like it seemed to be like someone or something calling to you."

"I am not sure what you mean." Hyper Captain replied as he stood there puzzled.

"I guess it would be better to come out and say it, or rather show you." Lieutenant said as he lowered his head a bit and the green gem on his chest armor flashed to show a honeycomb shape under it before his chest vents hissed. A portion of his top chest armor slid down and then flipped down to cover the gem as a metal hatched opened. The others in the room gasped as the inside of the hatch rotated to show a soul drive with silver rings orbiting it and a dimly lit flame inside.

"A s-soul drive!" Shute stammered as he looked at Lieutenant in disbelief, "But how?"

"I take it that you have seen this before." Lieutenant said as his soul drive retracted back into his armor and it closed up around it.

Hyper Captain nodded, "I have a soul drive, it is one of my main components."

"But how can you have a soul drive?" Bakunetsu asked as he pointed at Lieutenant, "It doesn't make any sense that you would have one."

"Indeed, it is very puzzling." Zero said as he started at Lieutenant.

"It is not that unbelievable." Hyper Captain said and shocked the others with the statement, "When Commander Sazabi attacked Neotopia, he had a soul drive as well. Just like other dimensions having Gundam's, it would not be implausible for there to be another with soul drives."

Lieutenant nodded, "I don't know who you are talking about, but the fact that we both have soul drives is something that is of interest to me. All the Gundam's of Gaia have a soul drive."

"All the Gundam's of your world have a soul drive?!" Shute exclaimed in shock, "Does that mean that everyone in the base has one?"

"No, only the Gundam's." Lieutenant shook his head, "The others that you see that look like Gundam's were originally designed to be bit mobile's to be used by the flash system built into each Gundam. It was a system that allowed us to control other units with our minds and soul drive. Leo, Burstamaru and X do not have the capability of using the flash system since they were never trained to do so. As for myself, I have sworn never to use that system again. Because of that, Sam used the bit mobile's as the base to design replacement bodies for those seriously damaged in combat. They look similar to Gundam's but have fewer capabilities and lighter armor."

"I'm still confused about how you and the others can have a soul drive." Shute said, "I've only met a few that have one, or had one."

"The soul drives were developed as a way to boost our power, but they also gave us more freedom and made us more human." Lieutenant explained, "They can be created with science and technology and embody everything that is a human soul, but in machine form. Each Gundam is equipped with one, but it is inactive till we are fully activated by our human companion. Typically the human companion is picked based on profile matching to find the best and most stable match, and the human is usually a NewType."

"NewType?" Shute asked, confused.

"A NewType is a term given to a human that has heightened mental ability." Lieutenant continued to explain, "They have increased empathy for all those around them, not just people, but machines and animals and the environment. They also have telepathic abilities that can allow them to control things with their minds, or even speak with one another mentally. The flash system in Gundam's were designed around that ability. After being paired with a Gundam, the NewType activates the soul drive and the two are bonded together in friendship, acting almost like a single unit since the NewType has the ability to increase the power of the Gundam."

The others in the room looked at Shute curiously, the young teen caught on quickly to what they were thinking as he took a step back from them.

"Hey, hold on a minute… I'm not a NewType!" Shute said in defense, "If I was, I would have used my telepathy to get better grades in school."

"You should not cheat Shute." Hyper Captain said, mildly scolding the boy. "If you did such things, then I would be forced to inform your mother."

"Exactly why I wouldn't do such a thing." Shute replied, "And I can't do that any way."

"It might be that there is an element in your world that makes the activation different." Lieutenant said as he calmed the others, "So far there is a NewType for each of the Gundam's here at the base… At least for most."

"What do you mean?" Bakunetsu asked as he looked at Lieutenant, "Who doesn't have one?"

"Burstamaru." Lieutenant answered, "She does not have a NewType companion, but she is fully activated, and it is a bit of a mystery as to how this is possible. She has refused to tell us much of anything about herself."

"Maybe Bakunetsumaru could talk to her and find out more about her." Zero offered as he looked at the samurai from Ark. "It might do him some good to get out and see a girl."

"What!?" Bakunetsu fumed as he looked at Zero, "What is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing." Zero smiled as he hovered for a bit, expecting the samurai to try and pounce him.

"That sounds like it might be a good idea, and maybe you could have a talk with Leo as well." Lieutenant said as he looked at Zero, his statement caught the knight off guard. "You are both knights, so he might have more of a report with you."

Bakunetsu chuckled as he saw the color drain from Zero's face for a moment, "Looks like your plan backfired."

"On the contrary, I would be honored to talk with a fellow knight." Zero said as he snapped to, determined to not show weakness before the samurai. "Where might I find him?"

"I believe that he is in the training room with some of the Pyron units that he brought from his homeland." Lieutenant informed Zero, "And Burstamaru should be outside of the base in the upper part of the mountain on one of the cliffs facing the sun in meditation. She is there at this time every day."

"It sounds like you two have some work to do." Shute said as he looked at Zero and Bakunetsu, "Try not to get into trouble."

"I shall do my best to see that he does not." Zero said as he exited the door with Bakunetsu, the samurai took a moment to realize what the knight had met and chased after him down the hall.

"Those two are very… interesting." Lieutenant said as he stood there and looked at the two as they continued down the hall.

"You have no idea." Shute chuckled, "They are always like that."

"It must make your base a very interesting place to live." Lieutenant said as he turned his attention back to Shute and Hyper Captain. "I know that you are both still curious about this place, so I shall answer any questions that you have. I might be more informative then the computers."

"I think that is a possibility." Hyper Captain said as he nodded and looked at Lieutenant, "You were one of the four Gundam's that were activated during the 7th Space War weren't you?"

Shute blinked in surprise as he looked at Captain and then Lieutenant, his mind raced back to the tracking signal on the computer for the Gundam units of Gaia and connected the dots as quickly as he could. "You're GX-01?"

Lieutenant sighed as he lowered his head, "I have not been called by that designation in over fifteen years. I was the first Gundam X unit to be activated, and was given the rank of Lieutenant to serve as the second in command for the Gaia Gundam Force, which is why everyone calls me Lieutenant."

"Kind of like Captain." Shute said as he looked at Hyper Captain, "Only he is the leader of the Gundam Force, with Chief Haro being in charge of everyone in the S.D.F., we're just a branch of that."

"I see." Lieutenant said, "It seems that our two worlds have much in common. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

Hyper Captain nodded, "I was wondering if you could tell us more about the Dark Cirrus and the 7th Space War."

Lieutenant remained silent for a few moments before he nodded, "It is a long story, so you might want to take a seat young man."

* * *

Zero walked into the training room of the base cautiously as he watched several strange looking units running about with weapons that appeared to be crossbows, but fired more like machine guns at targets set further down range. Other units ran around engaged in duels with their swords and shields, the sound of metal as it clanged together brought back memories to the Lacroian knight of his own days in training. As he continued further into the room, he saw the blue armored knight directing several of the other units in how to properly handle a sword. Zero grew more curious about the other knight as he got closer to him and looked at the features of him, most notably the cat ear like extensions on his helmet.

"Good day sir knight, I hope that I am not intruding." Zero called as he got closer to Leo, "We did not get a chance to properly meet one another before."

"I recall exchanging names with you before, you are Zero the Winged Knight." Leo said as he looked at Zero, "What are you doing down here in the training room? Have you come to test yourself against me?"

"Neigh good knight, I came to find out more about a fellow knight." Zero answered, "I am curious about thee since we are both knights, but from different worlds and kingdoms."

"I can understand your curiosity." Leo said as he studied Zero with his eyes, "I don't see how you can be called the 'Winged Knight' when you don't have any wings."

"Is it any more odd that you are called the 'Iron Knight'?" Zero asked as he looked at the other Gundam.

Leo thought for a moment before he looked away back at the training units, "I am called the Iron Knight be cause it was one of the hardest substances known in the kingdom, and it is also a part of my armor."

"A part of your armor?" Zero looked at him curiously, "You do not appear to be made of iron."

"There are limited resources in the Kingdom of Estar, so my redesign used what metals were more available." Leo explained, "Princess Mana was the key person to work on me, and is responsible for how I look."

"Princess Mana?" Zero looked at the Gundam more curiously then before, "You serve a princess named Mana?"

Leo nodded as he looked at Zero, "Does that seem odd to you?"

"No, it is just that in my world we have a magical energy that is a part of all life that is called mana." Zero explained, "I call upon it to bring me my shield and sword, as well as to cast spells in combat to aide others."

"We don't have anything like that here." Leo said as he turned away from Zero, "Princess Mana is the only Mana that I know of, and the only one that I serve. She is the one that activated me, and I am sworn to her as her guardian."

"I serve Princess Rele, the most beautiful princess in all of Lacroa." Zero said, his voice showed his deep affection for the princess, not one of a lover, but one as someone that respects her greatly.

Leo smiled as he looked at the Lacroian knight, "Something that we have in common then, we are both guardians to the princess of our kingdoms. Tell me, where is your Princess now? Why is she not with you?"

Zero felt a pang of guilt as he looked away, "We were taking part in a party to celebrate the birth of Shute's sister when I was called away to investigate a strange anomaly. It brought me here, and away from my princess. But I know she is safe in Neotopia with the others, and is no doubt helping to find a way to bring us back home. What of your princess?"

"I'm right here." Mana said suddenly, having snuck up behind Zero and caused the knight to jump. "You are a silly one."

Zero stared at the young girl as she chuckled at him and hugged a stuffed snow leopard plushie. "It is an honor to meet you, your highness."

Leo kept a watchful gaze on Zero as the other knight knelt before Mana and presented her a rose that appeared out of thin air. "How is it that you can do that?"

"I have made a contract with the mystical forces of mana to allow me to call upon a rose or flowers whenever I wish." Zero explained, "But especially to present them to princess's."

"Aw, thank you Sir Zero." Mana smiled as she put the rose in her hair, "It is very pretty."

"But it pales in comparison to you my princess." Leo said quickly as he bowed before Mana, "No rose or flower can match you."

Mana giggled as she smiled and blushed, "Thank you Kitty, and you two Birdy. I'm going to go see if I can find a snack at the cafeteria, would you like to join me?"

"Of course, your highness." Leo replied with a bow before he followed after Mana.

Zero blinked for a moment, "Did she call me 'Birdy'?"

* * *

Bakunetsu looked around curiously as he reached the end of the path going up the side of the mountain, finding himself at a dead end. "I thought that he said Burstamaru would be out here."

The samurai from Ark looked around a bit more before he looked up the rock face to see a small out cropping almost at the top of the mountain with a single figure standing atop it. Bakunetsu groaned a bit as he realized he found the other samurai and jumped from one small rock to another to climb the mountain, finally landing on the outcropping. He took a moment to collect himself as he looked around himself, the view from on top of the mountain was one that took his breath away as the sun started to set in the distance and splashed colors across the sky. The forest below sat in different shades of green as fog blanketed them as it tried to snake its way past the mountain. Close to the edge, Burstamaru sat facing the sun with her head lowered and her weapons resting across her lap and hands.

Bakunetsu took a step back as he thought to leave to avoid disturbing the other warrior in her meditation, only to hear a rock crack under his foot.

"You don't have to leave." Burstamaru said as she remained in place, "Just try to avoid disturbing the rocks around here Bakunetsumaru."

"I didn't mean to intrude on you." Bakunetsu said as he stood there and watched her.

"Yes you did." Burst said as she stood up and put her swords on her arms, the blades retracted into the shields as she turned to face him. "If you didn't then you wouldn't have bothered to make so much noise to reach this outcropping. What is it that you want?"

"Well…" Bakunetsu thought for a moment as he looked at the Gundamess, her body and frame obviously built for quickness with its slender form.

"Ugh! Is that all you guys think about?" Burst asked and caused Bakunetsu to jump back as his cheeks flushed as he realized what she might be thinking he was thinking about.

"I wasn't thinking about that! I was just looking you over." Bakunetsu said quickly, "I've never seen someone like you before, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

Burst stared at him for a moment before she shook her head, "I guess I can understand and forgive you this once. But remember that if you look at me like that again, I shall make sure that it is the last thing that your optics see. Now why did you come up to my sanctuary?"

"I was wondering if we could talk." Bakunetsu replied, "Like I said, I have not met a samurai from outside my own world before, so I am curious about you."

"I have to admit that I am curious about you as well." Burst said as she folded her arms over her chest, "What is it that you would like to know about me or my homeland?"

"Well, how about what happened to it and how you came to be here and a part of this base?" Bakunetsu asked as he ventured a step closer to her.

"My home was destroyed by the Neo Axis." Burst growled, "I didn't know it was them at the time, but after coming here and fighting against those other units I know they are part of the same group. They infiltrated the dojo that my master and I lived and taught others in a hope to bring peace to the land. One night they attacked and slaughtered all that stood in their way, including my master. He told me to head toward the point where the light of the moon came from, so I did and I met the others here."

Bakunetsu started at Burst as she rested a hand on her chest and rubbed it at the mention of her master, "Why are you touching your chest like that?"

Burst flushed with anger at first, but sighed as she looked down and realized that she called attention to the spot herself as she closed her eyes. "Before my master died, he gave me his soul drive… I was nothing but a 'defective unit', one that was able to operate as if I had a soul drive when I didn't. But my master gave me his so that I would have one, and when I put it in my soul drive chamber it caused my own to activate and merged with his. When that happened… it was like I joined with him. I knew everything that he knew, and somehow I got stronger."

"That sounds creepy…" Bakunetsu said as he looked at her oddly, "Does that make you your master then?"

"No." Burst said as she glared at him, "We are separate individuals. I come here to calm my mind just as he taught me how, and also to talk with is spirit."

"You talk to his spirit, does that mean… You talk to his ghost?" Bakunetsu asked, as a sudden shock of fear shot into him.

"In a way." Burst replied and smiled as she saw the fear in the samurai's eyes. "What's wrong? Are you afraid of ghosts and spirits?"

"M-me afraid?" Bakunetsu laughed half-heartedly as he stood there and tried to look brave. "I'm not afraid of anything."

Burst chuckled as she walked past Bakunetsu, "I think that you are hiding your fear. Do not worry. My master's spirit will not harm you as long as you do not give him reason to."

"That is a c-comforting thought." Bakunetsu said as he smiled weakly, "How do you make it so that he won't harm me- I mean, anyone?"

"With meditation and by talking with him," Burst explained with a smile. "If you wish, you can join me in meditation. He might see you as less then a threat then."

"O-okay." Bakunetsu nodded in agreement, and followed the Gundamess over to the edge of the outcropping.

* * *

"I want a full report on your progress." Chief Haro said as he stormed into the command center for the S.D.G. and sent several people rushing to carry out the order.

"We have been working as hard as we can to find a solution to what has happened, and to reestablish contact with Captain and the others." Juli said as she looked at Chief Haro, "But I'm afraid that they are no where near our communications grid. Princess Rele has been trying to contact them as well, and we have even enlisted the help of the Diashogun to try and locate them. So far we have determined that they are not in Lacroa or Ark either."

"Where could they be then?" Chief Haro asked as he looked at the screen showing the information for Neotopia and the dimension that Lacroa and Ark are located. "Is it possible that they were transported to another dimension that we have yet to come in contact with?"

"I don't think so." Kao Lyn said as he looked at the data before him, "The vortex had the same power output as the Zakorello Gate, but it didn't have the same characteristics to allow it to cross dimensions as it does. In all likelihood they are still inside our own dimension."

Chief Haro sighed as he kept an eye on the data and looked over at the display that showed the sensor grid that expanded beyond the planet Earth and to the orbiting colonies above. "As amazing as it is that there is the possibility of traveling beyond the range of our sensors, this is also one of the hardest things for anyone to take."

"You don't have to worry Chief," Juli said as she looked at the haro helmeted man. "We'll fine Captain and the others and bring them back home safely."

"I know that we will." Chief Haro said as he nodded at Juli, "I want the Gundamusai made ready for flight as soon as we are able to reestablish contact."

"Yes, sir." Juli saluted as she turned back to her duty station to carry out the orders and the Chief left the room.

As Chief Haro walked down the hall from the command center, a Gundam came out of hiding behind him. The double fin winged Gundam looked up at Chief Haro with light blue eyes under a red reinforced padding on his helmet, his chest armor a darker shade of blue than his eyes held two large vents to allow for more air intact during flight, and his legs were decorated with small control surfaces as well as thrusters. The aerial Gundam was unarmed, the normal missiles attached to his wings in storage along with his beam gun.

"Chief Haro, is there anything that I can do?" The Gundam asked as he stood there and looked up at the man almost helplessly.

"I'm not sure that there is GunEagle." Chief Haro replied and started down the hall once more only to stop and turned to face the Gundam. "There is something that you can do. Go make sure that the Gundamusai is well supplied. I have an idea to put it at the edge of our sensor grid to try and extend how far we can search."

"Yes, sir!" GunEagle saluted as he ran off to carry out the task, leaving Chief Haro alone in the hall.

Chief Haro sighed as he turned back down the way that he was going and shut his eyes behind his mask. "Everyone is doing what they can to find you Shute, Nana, everyone… Just hold on a bit longer and stay safe."


	9. Chapter 9

SD GUNDAM FORCE X

**Cory "Core" Belote**

**Chapter Nine****  
**_**"Time Critical Operation! Save Nana and Bell Wood!"**_

"Admiral!" A dirty blonde haired young woman with blue eyes called out as she stood up from her station and half turned to face Ran, her blue uniform the only thing setting her apart from her identical twin sister at another station. "We have a contact on the long range sensors! A large heat source is coming towards the base."

"Can you get a positive identification on it?" Ran asked as he walked over to the station and looked at the image that the base's heat sensors picked up, the outline blurred by the distant trees. "Looks like they are staying out of weapon range of the base. Switch to the exterior camera's."

"Switching to exterior camera's." The twin of the other woman said, her red and pink uniform identifying her.

The large monitor over a window displayed an image of the outside of the base, zooming in on the unknown target that had appeared. Ran stared at it for a long while as it came into focus, the red land battle ship Crimson came in clearly. He growled inwardly as he stared at the image, the enemy warship sat surrounded by trees, its damage already repaired from the previous battle.

"Figures that he would com back for another round," Ran said as he turned and motioned to the others in the command center. "Combat alert! Everyone to your stations, and have the Gundams and GunDefenders on standby for launch!"

"Yes sir!" The twins snapped as they turned to their work and started to carryout their orders.

The alarm sounded through out the base, and alerted everyone of what is going on as one of the twins spoke into the communications panel to tell everyone what to do. Shute looked around confused for a moment before he broke into a run after Hyper Captain, the Gundam running along with Lieutenant through the base.

"What's going on?" Shute asked as he kept running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Any enemy has appeared on the base sensors, we are to report to the launch bay and wait for orders to launch." Lieutenant informed him, "But since you are not official members of our forces, I think that it would be better for you to report to the command center. Take the hall up a head on the right and then the elevator to the top level, you will find the Admiral there."

"But-"

"Understood." Hyper Captain said as he cut Shute's protest off and started down the hall, the young teen followed him as he did.

"Captain, don't you think that we should go with him?" Shute asked as he kept close to his friend.

"I believe that it would be beneficial if we stayed out of the conflict for now." Hyper Captain explained, "Even if we are now friends, it would not be wise to take part in a battle without knowing what is going on. Lieutenant Gundam X asked us to go to the command center for a reason. Most likely to learn more about the enemy that they are facing."

Shute sighed as he kept running and skidded to a halt at the elevator door, "You have a point Captain, but I still don't like the idea of letting them go on their own. We are all members of the Gundam Force aren't we?"

"It would appear so, but we are from different worlds." Hyper Captain stated, "We must respect the wishes of Lieutenant Gundam X since this is his home, and he knows it better then us."

"Okay, I guess I understand now." Shute said as the elevator door opened and he got in with the Gundam, the other two members of their team arrived at the same time to join them on the ride up to the command center.

The doors to the elevator opened onto a scene of controlled chaos as the officers in charge of the center milled about quickly to carry out their different tasks, all of them speaking at once to different people. Shute looked around quickly and found Ran standing in the middle of it all near a chair that looked like it would be better suited to be on a ship than a land base. He walked over to the man and looked at the screens around him that displayed the red warship that sat in the forest directly ahead of the base.

"What's going on?" Shute asked as he stood next to the Admiral, "Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"I don't think that there is at the moment." Ran said as he kept his eyes on the ship, "We are trying to figure out what their intentions are. Right now they are just sitting out there and not making any move to attack."

"It has to be a trap of some kind." Bakunetsu said quickly as he looked at the screen, "That's the same ship that was here when we arrived isn't it?"

"It is, and they repaired it quicker then I thought they would." Ran shut his eyes in thought, "What can they be up to?"

"Admiral, we are receiving a transmission from the enemy ship." The red and pink clad twin said as she stayed at her station. "Audio only."

"Let's hear it." Ran ordered as he looked at the screen and glared at the ship.

"Testing, testing… is this thing on?" A female voice came over the speakers in the command center. "Ah, yes, the red light is on."

The trio of Gundams looked at one another puzzled by the tone of voice and its actions, its owners behavior caused Shute to tilt his head to the side questioningly.

"I have an announcement for the Gundams that are currently residing in your base, all seven of them." The voice continued, "You have only a few options open to you, options which I shall now give to you. Option A: You can lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves and the base to us, Option B: You can let our two guests die horribly quick and painlessly."

"Guests?" Ran looked up quickly, catching on to what the menacing voice meant.

"We ran out of room on the inside of our ship, so we had to place our guests in the only space that we had available at the time." The voice chuckled, "So we placed them on the exterior, namely at the front of our main cannon."

"Magnify their main cannon!" Ran snapped, the officer in charge of the camera zoomed in on the large weapon of the warship and attached to the muzzle was a pair of humans.

Shute's eyes widened in horror as he recognized who was strapped to the gapping maw of the cannon and took a step back. "Na- na- Nana! Bell Wood!"

"What?" Ran asked as he turned his head to look at the teen, "You know them?"

"That's my sister and my friend!" Shute said quickly, "How did they get them?!"

"I am sure that you have seen our guests by now." The voice continued, "Now you have only ten minutes to give us your answer Gundams, before we fire our main cannon. If you would like for our guests to go free, then I suggest you think over the options that I gave you and contact us before time runs out. Ta-ta~"

"Lieutenant, were you listening?" Ran asked as he stood like a statue in the command center.

"I did Admiral," Lieutenant replied over the communications channel. "Have the hostages been confirmed?"

Ran looked over at the four guest of the base and saw the answer in their eyes, "The hostages are allies to our new friends, we'll worry about finding out how they got here later. Right now I want your team on standby."

"Understood, Admiral." Lieutenant said as the communications channel clicked off.

"You aren't going to just abandon them out there are you?" Shute asked as he looked at the man, "That is my sister and friend out there."

"Calm down, I'm not abandoning anyone." Ran said as he looked at the teen, "We only have a limited amount of time to act, and we have to do so quickly before they can make good with their threat."

"We shall lend our assistance in anyway that you require." Hyper Captain said as he stepped forward.

"Right!" Bakunetsu nodded, "Bell Wood is my friend and I will rescue him."

"We have to come up with a plan first." Ran said, "This is a time critical operation, so let's move quickly."

"This is a devious plan that you two have put together." Crimson said as he stalked about the bridge of his ship, "Using those two as bait to draw out the Gundams and have them surrender to us. What makes you think that they are going to give up just to save two humans?"

"It is easy." Correl smiled as she sat on the edge of a command console, "The Gundams are protectors of innocent, and they would give up their lives for a single human. That is what makes us different then them, we will do whatever is needed to obtain victory, even ending the life of a human or a few thousand."

Britova nodded as he stood there, "But our goal is not to make them surrender. As soon as they come into view and have laid their weapons down, we are going to strike at them and reduce them to their base components with the main cannon."

"They would herald the death of the ones they want to save, how ironic." Crimson chuckled, "This day shall see the end of the Gundams, and this world shall be ours."

Correl and Britova shared a hidden smile behind the back of the Descen as he looked at the base.

"Yes, this day shall see the end of many things." Britova said, "I think that you should be the one that they see out front Crimson. This is your ship, and your mission after all, so you should be the one that they surrender to."

"That's right." Crimson smiled, "Just make sure that you don't miss when you fire that cannon. We have to put an end to those Gundam's, once and for all."

"Oh don't worry about a thing dear." Correl smiled as she walked over to the Descen and hugged him around his shoulders, "We never miss."

Britova smiled as Crimson left the bridge of the ship to carry out the task and looked at Correl, "Don't you think that you are putting it on a bit thick?"

"Yes, but we have him under our control, and we will soon have no further use of him and I can drop this act." Correl said as she walked to the targeting control for the cannon. "It's time for those Gundam's to appear."

As if on cue the gates to the base open up to allow the Gundams inside to march out, all of them unarmed to face as the terms dictated. Hyper Captain looked at the ship as it came closer, the crimson armor dotted with fresh repairs and the cannon clearly showing the two hostages strapped to the gaping maw of the barrel.

"I don't like this at all." Bakunetsu grumbled as he looked at their two human friends strapped to the weapon, "If I had my swords I could get them out of there."

"Patience, just wait a bit longer." Lieutenant said as he glared at the ship, "It's almost time."

"So you have finally decided to surrender." Crimson stifled a laugh as he stood on the bow of the ship and looked down at the gathering of Gundams. "You all have given me a great deal of trouble in taking over this section of the world for my master, and I wish that I could make you pay for all the embarrassment that you have put me through, but this is all the more better."

"What kind of warrior are you to take hostages and use them as shields, villain!" Zero snapped with disgust.

"Villain? I am not the villain here, it is you!" Crimson snapped back as he jumped down from the ship and marched up to the Gundams. "IF it were not for you Gundams then this world would be safe and my Master would be able to heal it once more. But you insist on standing in our way and fight us at every turn. You are the reason that we have to resort to such things, so don't act so high and mighty you strange looking blue boy!"

"Blue boy?" Zero blinked, unsure if he was insulted or not by the remark.

"We have done what you asked us to do, don't you think that it would be prudent to release your hostages?" Hyper Captain asked as he looked at Crimson, "Unless you wish to negate the terms of the agreement."

"Yes, of course." Crimson smiled, "The hostages are free to go."

There is a dead silence as the group stood there and waited, the cannon of the ship did not make a move and no one on it made one step to free the two captive humans. Crimson turned around slowly to look at the ship, confused about the inaction only to see the cannon moving slowly to point at them.

"There, any moment now someone will release them." Crimson smiled as he took a step back from the Gundams to look at them all.

"Good bye Crimson, it was fun." Correl's voice said evilily, "I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't work out between us."

"WHAT!?" Crimson snapped as he turned around and saw the cannon pointed at him and the Gundams, "I've been betrayed!?"

The interior of the cannon glowed as it powered up to deliver its shot and time seemed to slow down as it started to fire. As the discharge of energy started to cascade down the barrel, a red armored GunDefender with a pair of horn like extensions from its helmet leapt from the ground with a large sword in hand.

"Now you will know my wrath!" The red armored GunDefender shouted as she brought her sword down on the barrel of the weapon.

"All forces attack!" A black and purple GunDefender shouted as he popped up from the bushes, hidden from sight from the others.

A small group of green armored GunDefenders popped up around the crimson ship, their gatling guns opening fire upon it as the red one caught the barrel of the cannon with the two humans still attached, and leapt out of the line of fire.

Crimson looked on in shock as the cannon fired even with most of its barrel missing, the blast aimed directly at him as the Gundams scattered. The Descen let out a scream of fright as the energy slammed into him and the cannon itself exploded from the backwash of caused by the barrel being shortened. The base itself came alive with activity as canons and other weapon systems opened fire on the land battleship, causing the hull to bubble as explosions rippled throughout the interior. The windows on the bridge flashed for a moment before they exploded out in a large fireball, and another blast tore a hole through the back side to allow two objects to jet away from the carnage.

Nana blinked as she was set down with Bell Wood close to one of the side hangers of the base, hidden by the bushes and trees close to the rock face.

"Nana!" A familiar voice shouted and caught her attention as the ropes around her were cut off by the red GunDefender, and she saw Shute running up to her.

"Shute!" Nana cried as she nearly tackled her older sibling, grateful to be reunited with him.

Bell Wood sighed as he stood there, "What? I don't get a greeting like that?"

"If you want, I could hug you." The red GunDefender said and seemed to smile up at the tall human.

"Uhm… No thanks." Bell Wood said quickly as the backed away from the female robot.


End file.
